Tom Shaw shared a sad posting regarding Dan Garnitz. Richard “Kap” Kaplowitz sorrowfully announced that his best friend of 62 years, Dan, had passed away after a brief illness in Frederick Maryland at 74 years of age. A traditional Jewish burial was held in Baltimore on Friday, July 17th, 2026 at 10 am.
Daniel Seth Garnitz was born on 13 May 1952 in Chicago, Cook county, Illinois and spent his pre-teen years in South Bend, Indiana. Daniel Seth was the adopted son of Richard Garnitz (1921-2013) and the former Sydelle Mildred Finkelstein (1925-2013). He is survived by a sister, Joan Suzanne Harris; a son, Aaron; and 2 ex-wives. He was the widower of Jean Marie Watson (1956-2004) and had survived ex-wives Nealene, Earlene, and ‘Charlen’.
After his retirement from a career in telecommunications/management consultant to the Automotive Recycling Industry, Dan became a professional genealogist based in Maryland, specializing in Jewish, and Mid-Atlantic research (DC, MD, VA, NC, SC, PA). He resided in Emmitsburg, Maryland.
Dan maintained GeoCities and RootsMagic personal genealogical sites. (Dan’s 2019 “Genealogy Resources on the Web” on GeoCities) He had been a FindAGrave contributor since 14 August 2000. And he was active on the FamilySearch website.
The I use GRAMPS Facebook group was created by Dan Garnitz in 2009. It was merged into Tom Shaw’s “GRAMPS for Genealogists” group in 2022 where Dan became a co-admin. He was active (welcoming new users) less than a week before his passing.
He is, and will continue to be, sorely missed.