ATLANTA - Isaac Goodfriend, a Holocaust survivor who served as cantor at an Atlanta synagogue for 30 years, has died.

Goodfriend, who was 85, died Monday of natural causes and was buried near his wife in Israel on Tuesday, a local newspaper reported.

"He was a great man," his son, Enoch Goodfriend, told the newspaper. "He represented an era ... he was dada, and he was a loving, strong, faithful man who survived the Holocaust. That's where he gleaned most of his faith from."

Goodfriend was born in Poland and was interned at a Nazi labor camp in Piotrokow at age 16. He escaped from the camp in 1944 and was taken in by a Polish farmer. He was the only member of his family to survive.

After the war, he moved to Canada with his wife, Betty and became a cantor, the synagogue official who conducts the liturgy and sings prayers, at a synagogue in Montreal in 1952.

He later moved to Atlanta and became pastor at Ahavath Achim Synagogue.

He made a point of helping the Jewish community in any way possible, his son, Perry Goodfriend, said.

"He worked tirelessly for Israel," he said. "He was committed not only to this community, but the Jewish community as a whole. He saw what he went through at the Holocaust as sort of a impetus."

Goodfriend was selected in 1977 to sing the National Anthem at President Jimmy Carter's inauguration. He also represented the Jewish community each year at the national observance of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.

Carter appointed Goodfriend in 1979 to the President's Commission on the Holocaust, and he was appointed in 1985 to the Georgia Holocaust Memorial Commission. He was also a charter member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, which helped create the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.

"I think what he would be remembered for most is his generosity ... time, motivation, commitment, his great smile and the twinkle in his eye," Perry Goodfriend said.

Goodfriend is survived by his two sons Enoch and Perry, both of Atlanta, four grandchildren and several great-grandchildren.