NEWPORT NEWS — One day earlier this summer, Gunter “Garshon” Morgenstein spread some liverwurst over a bagel, eating the favorite snack he grew up having as a boy in Germany. But his family says the liverwurst was contaminated, and that it ended up killing the 88-year-old Newport News resident of food poisoning a few weeks later. Morgenstein — a retired Newport News hair stylist — was admitted to Riverside Regional Medical Center on July 8 after growing short of breath, and died at the hospital 10 days later.
“I think we’re all just still in shock, and just like completely mind blown, that this is how he died, because of lunch meat,” his son, Garshon “Shon” Morgenstein, said Saturday. Though the elder Morgenstein was initially set to be released from the hospital a day or two after being admitted, his wife of 50 years, Peggy Morgenstein, questioned that decision. “My mom was like, ‘I don’t think he should come home, because something is just off about him,’” said Shon Morgenstein, 49, of Virginia Beach.
“He doesn’t look right, and he seems super weak.” Riverside did more tests to get to the cause of the issue when a blood culture came back positive for Listeria monocytogenes. It was around that time that the family saw a news report about a major meat recall, to include the Boar’s Head Stassburger Brand Liverwurst made at a plant in Jarratt, Virginia.
“Then we put two and two together,” Shon Morgenstein said. According to the July 26 recall notice , the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service recalled the liverwurst after finding that the Boar’s Head product made at the Virginia plant between June 11 and July 17 may be “adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes.” The USDA warned that eating the contaminated food can cause listeriosis, an infection that begins in the gastrointestinal tract and leads to fever, muscle aches, headache, confusion, loss of balance and flu-like symptoms. “Serious and sometimes fatal infections can occur in older adults and persons with weakened immune systems,” the report added.
Other meats made on the same line were also impacted, with more than 200,000 pounds of meat ultimately recalled. While his father’s liverwurst packaging had long been thrown away, Shon Morgenstein tracked the purchase to the Harris Teeter grocery store in Newport News’ Hidenwood section. He used the grocer’s loyalty discount program to determine where the purchase was made.
Despite getting treated with antibiotics at the hospital, Gunter Morgenstein kept feeling worse. “We said, ‘You just have to try to keep fighting, don’t give up,’” his son said. “I know you want to go home, but just keep fighting .
.. But he never really spoke again after that.
” Gunter Morgenstein died at Riverside on July 18. Morgenstein’s death and his family’s contentions about the food poisoning was first reported Friday by WAVY-10 . Elizabeth Ward, a vice president for communications at Boar’s Head Provisions Co.
, could not immediately be reached on Saturday for comment. A spokeswoman for Harris Teeter also did not have an immediate comment. The family is in touch with Ron Simon & Associates , a Texas law firm known for representing victims of food poisoning claims.
An attorney with the firm did not return a phone call Saturday. Gunter Morgenstein survived the Holocaust in Germany during World War II, and left Germany in 1954. After first moving to Canada, he moved to Newport News more than 50 years ago and became a “master hair designer.
” Gunter Morgenstein leaves behind a son and two daughters, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. “He showed his courage in facing life challenges with a smile, and stayed strong until the end,” the family’s obituary said . Peter Dujardin, 757-897-2062, pdujardin@dailypress.
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