A competitive athlete and successful businessman, Ruben Bercovich was an active participant in his community before he became the first Jewish victim of COVID-19 in Argentina on March 26.

He frequently was seen at the local Hebraica Jewish sports club and competed athletically well into his 50s. Bercovich participated in the 2017 Maccabiah Games in Israel and the Panamerican Maccabiah Games in Mexico in 2019.

Community vice president Isaac Mario Mariach told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Bercovich, known as “Berco,” always contributed when asked, and that “he was a very good person.”

Before Bercovich’s recent hospitalization with throat cancer, during which time he contracted COVID-19, he was the head of his family’s longtime construction supplies company, Bercomat.

He is survived by his wife, Raquel, and three children.

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