Born on April 21, 1971 in Brooklyn, New York.
At the age of three, Avi and his family made Aliyah by immigrating to Israel.
In July 1990, Avi was drafted to the IDF and was assigned to the Combat Engineers Unit as per his request. After completing basic training, Avi continued on to a commander’s course and then to an officer’s course before eventually volunteering for the prestigious Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit.
On August 19, 1993, while on a mission in southern Lebanon, an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was detonated, killing seven soldiers from the Golani Brigade. Avi took command of the rescue operation to evacuate the injured soldiers, and locate and neutralise additional charges. During the operation Avi was seriously injured and was rushed to Rambam Hospital in Haifa where he unfortunately passed due to the severity of his injuries.
Avi was buried in the Petach Tikva Military Cemetery at the age of 22.