After a Tragic Beginning, a ‘Happily Ever After’

The second date took a long time to set up. When she met him at the Baccarat Hotel’s bar in late April, Katz realised that she should have contacted him sooner rather than later. His texts to her were very considerate, she remarked, and she described him as “so adorable and so brilliant.” After a few weeks, on June 10, they announced their relationship.

‘I don’t think we should see any other individuals,’ he replied. He was in awe of her by this point. “When I learned how her life began, it was mind-boggling. “I was in awe of her ideals and how far she had progressed,” I said. Credit…

The Studio of Irarosen

Sacks met Bruce Katz and Steven Matz, the parents of Katz and Matz, shortly after they became engaged. The two men had adopted Ms. Katz and her younger sister, Kimberly, and he was aware that Mr. Katz was her real uncle. Until the age of 8, Ms. Katz lived in Brookville on Long Island. Carbon monoxide poisoning killed her father in the family garage in 2001. He wrote a suicide letter before taking his own life.

Poison gas killed his wife, Dr. Rhonda Leopold, and their 5-year-old daughter, Allison. The only survivors were Ms. Katz and Kimberly, as well as the family’s housekeeper, who was also overtaken by fumes.

As a young woman, Katz’s life was forever changed by Mr. Katz’s love to his late sister’s remaining children. ‘He really stepped up,’ she said. Having two fathers wasn’t very common on Long Island, where everyone knew who we were and looked at me with sympathy. Her fathers and a lack of choices are to be credited for her strength: A person has two choices when faced with adversity: “Crack or move forward.”

He wanted to be with her for the rest of their lives when he proposed to her on September 26, 2020. A life tale that ended differently than it began was also something he wanted to give her. When he spoke, he remarked, “I thought she deserved a happily ever after.” “And I’m going to do my best to see that it happens.”

On July 17, rabbi Jaimee Shalhevet of North Shore Synagogue married Mr. Sacks and Ms. Katz at Pelligrini Vineyards in Cutchogue, N.Y. It wasn’t just Mr. Katz’s fathers that escorted his daughter down the aisle. A few years ago, she remarked, “I’ve tried to do things in my life that I know Mom would have wanted me to…. “I’d like to think she’d be pleased with me.”