Shmuel Wilner

Aug 19, 2003 - Shmuel Wilner, 50, of Jerusalem was one of 23 persons murdered by a suicide bomber on a No. 2 Egged bus in the capital's Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood.

The attack took place at about 9 p.m. as the bus was making its way from the Western Wall to several religious neighborhoods. The Hamas suicide bomber, apparently disguised as a religious Jew, boarded the bus and detonated his bomb shortly afterwards. Seven of those killed were children and over 130 people were wounded.

Shmuel Wilner was a Satmer hassid who with his brothers ran the family bookstore they had inherited from their father. He was returning from a bar mitzva celebration and pushed himself onto the crowded, doomed bus so as not to be late for a Torah lesson.

"He was a great scholar who always thought only of others," a friend related. "He never got angry and always tried to cheer up those around him."

A relative recalled that, when one of his sons got married six months before, "He was so happy -- he sang and danced, and life seemed so wonderful."

Shmuel Wilner was buried at Har Hamenhot Cemetery in Jerusalem. He is survived by his wife, five children, and grandchildren.