Nachum Heiman, an Israel Prize laureate and one of the country's most prolific composers, died on Wednesday night at the age of 82. Born in Latvia in 1934, Heiman and his family moved to Israel in 1939. He went on to found many singing groups over the years, among them the iconic Israeli folk group Gevatron. He released 40 albums and composed more than 1,000 tunes, hundreds of which became an integral part of Israeli music history. In 2009, Heiman was awarded the Israel Prize for Hebrew song. He also won lifetime achievement awards from the Israeli Society of Authors, Composers and Music Publishers, Bar-Ilan University, and the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. "Today I say goodbye to my father, a man of song," Heiman's daughter, Israeli rock singer Si Heiman, eulogized. "The moment has come to say goodbye, and naturally, it's far too soon. Dad lived his life as he wrote his songs, which became the soundtrack to our lives. But to me he was 'Dad,' and I miss him already." President Reuven Rivlin issued a statement saying: "Nachum Heiman was an artist who knew the human soul, and he could put all of our thoughts and feelings into music. He wrote the tunes that captured the Israeli sun, earth and sea. We will never forget him." Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu eulogized: "Nachum Heiman composed the soundtrack to our lives in Israel and he is one of the greatest composers Israel has ever known. The songs he left behind describe a love of man and country and they will always be there for our future generations." Culture and Sports Minister Miri Regev said Heiman "seemed to know how to describe our lives here in music. He touched people's hearts, and our lives are richer for it." Opposition Leader Isaac Herzog (Zionist Union) said the composer "gave Israeli identity distinct tunes that we all know and love. His prolific work is one of the most beautiful and touching things we have known and his passing is a great loss to all of us."
Heiman's coffin lay in state in the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv on Thursday. His funeral was scheduled to take place at 6 p.m. at the Kfar Saba Cemetery.
