Westlawn Cemetery

Westlawn Cemetery

Details
Location	Norridge, Illinois
Country	United States
Type	Public
Size	72 acres (29 ha)
Number of interments	46,000

For the cemetery in Canton, Ohio, see West Lawn Cemetery.

Westlawn Cemetery is a Jewish cemetery located in Norridge, Illinois. The cemetery covers 72 acres (29 ha) and roughly 46,000 people are buried there.

Notable interments

• Jack Ruby, convicted of the murder of Lee Harvey Oswald
• Abe Saperstein, creator of the Savoy Big Five, precursor of the Harlem Globetrotters
• Shel Silverstein, poet, author, satirist, and cartoonist
• Gene Siskel, film critic
• Evelyn Wakely

Vandalism

Westlawn was the site of gravestone desecration in January 2008. At least 57 tombstones were defaced with anti-Semitic slogans. Using white and blue spray paint, the vandal drew swastikas and slurs on tombstones in a western section of the cemetery. A 21 year old Polish immigrant male was charged with the crime in February 2008. If convicted of institutional vandalism, the alleged perpetrator faces up to 7 years in prison. He has been directly linked by police to a neo-Nazi organization in the Chicago area.

External links

• "Westlawn Jewish Funerals". http://www.westlawnjewishfunerals.com/. Retrieved 2009-10-09. 
• 41°57′28.80″N 87°49′36.12″W
• Google Maps view of the cemetery