Martin Waldman passed away November 24, 2019. This LifePosts, created for his 90th birthday, captures his full life story. Another memorial LifePost has been created to house obituaries, eulogies, and other remembrances: https://www.lifeposts.com/p/milestone/69/.../rial/lifestory/
LifeTimeline
Martin Gordon Waldman
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Morris Gordon (Marty's Grandfather) Born
Kadan
RussiaAnna Gordon's father came here when 19 because didn't want to serve in the Russian army. He married Celia when he was 20, she a year older.
Owned M & H Gordon Clothing, second largest coat maker in NYC. The H was for Harry, Aunt Gertie's husband, (son became insurance agent) They owned 3 lofts.
Morris belonged to Kdaner Association; he has a plot in Washington Cemetery in
Brooklyn.
He never went to college but he was so anxious to learn that when Anna was in high school studying French, he had her teach him. They read Les Miserables.
His daughters were Ethel, Fanny, Della, Ruth, Mary and Anna.
Morris died fairly young man (in his 40s, think of stomach cancer). Family fell
apart.
1900 Census says he was married 1893, and that he was born May 1872, was a "cloth manufacturer" and that "Selia" was born Dec 1870. Lists his address as 1464 Madison Avenue in Manhattan! -
Barnett Waldman (Marty's Paternal Grandfather) Born
Russia
Everyone called him Barney. Married to Mary Lippman. They lived at 160 Henry Street in Manhattan. The Waldmans also wealthy clothing people. They lived down the street from the Gordons (in Boro Park?).
From Anna: Parents married March 17, 1889. (According to note on birth certificate, the Federal census of 1900 shows Max Waldman, age 7, and parents listed in records.) Mary died when 32; father married her sister, Beatrice, who also was Max's aunt. Bea really raised him, his full brother Joe. Two half brothers Myron and Herbert.
According to Peter Waldman (Herb's son, i.e. a grandson of Barnett): "This is the story that I was told, as a kid. Our grandfather and your great grandfather was Barnett, known as Barney, was a 13 year old in Russia. He was smart enough to know that conscription into the Russian army was not a good place for Jews.
He left Russia with little more than the clothes on his back. To cross one border he had to swim a river and get to Germany. There he had an aunt of cousin who was married to a gentile inn-keeper.
This man's name was Waldmann. He told Grandpa to take his name and drop the last "n" and DON’T STOP TILL YOU GET TO AMERICA."
Rob Waldman adds: "According to research by Selma Waldman, the original name was either Doluboff or Jacobs." And he was born in Bialystok, Poland (according to a letter from her to Peter Waldman)
1915 NY State Census of 1915 lists him as 45, and his wife Rebecca was 30. Says he lived at 1241 50th Street in Brooklyn. It lists his occupation as "contractor" and says Rebecca was from Germany.
Steve Waldman says he died in 1941.Robert Waldman
Barnet's second wife was Rebecca, not Beatrice, although some of her grandchildren called her Grandma Bea.- (1)
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Celia Gerufsky (Marty's Grandmother) Born
Aron
RussiaCelia (Anna Gordon's mother) was born in Aron, Russia, then Latvia. She spoke Polish. She immigrated in 1891 (per 1920 census record)
She probably met her husband, Morris Gordon, in the clothing business. They were not religious until they moved to Boro Park. She then kept Kosher. All the Jews there helped build their synagogue, Temple Emanuel.
Morris died fairly young man (in his 40s, think of stomach cancer). Family fell apart. Celia had to sell house, moved to apartment with daughters. Eventually, Celia had to be put in a nursing home.
Ancestry record of Rutchik family says she died in 1933. Aron May have been in Latvia.
Says 4619 13th Ave in 1920. The 1920 census record says she was 46 in 1920, which would mean she was born "about 1874."
Census record lists her as "about 1874" Says both her parents were born in Russia and that by 1920 she was widowed.Mark London
I believe that the city where Celia came from, is in Lithuania, not Latvia. The 2 countries are easily confused. After an extensive search, there is no town in Latvia named Aron. There is one in Lithuania, whose Lithuanian name is Varena, but whose Yiddish name was Aran.
Celia's sister Bella, has a record that indicates that she came from Lithuania. Also, there are Lithuanian records from the 1800s, that show that Jews with the surname of "Gerovski", came from a town not far from "Aran". That is the closest sounding surname that I've found in any Jewish database. No such surname appears to be connected with Latvia.
And yes, Morris's death certificate does show that he died of stomach cancer.- (1)
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Mark London
Morris died in 1917, and is buried in Washington Cemetery, NYC. Celia died in 1941, and is buried in the Beth David Cemetery, in Elmont, New York -
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Max Waldman Born
The Waldmans lived down the street from the Gordons. They were also wealthy clothing people. Max's older brother Joe proposed to Anna after 3 weeks of wining and
dining, but she said no.
Anna and Max had known each other for many years, but had not been in touch for long time. They sat next to each other at a cousin's wedding. Right then, he asked her to marry him, courted her for 3 weeks. This time, she said yes.
But then he went to South America for 6 months. They were married shortly after he returned home.
Max died Oct. 24, 1973, at age 79. -
Rachel "Anna" Gordon Born
New York, New York
Anna born on Broome Street on lower East Side, the oldest of six girls. They had very little , a trunk, 2 chairs. Parents probably met in clothing business. They were not religious until they moved to Boro Park. Then mother kept Kosher. All the Jews there helped build their synagogue. Temple Emanuel.
Father never went to college but he was so anxious to learn that when Anna was in high school studying French, he had her teach him. They read Les Miserables.
She went to Girls High, which high in academics, but all "old maids." She wanted to go to Manual Training Girls High distance away, many blocks, 3 changes in buses. Anna dropped out of high school because she was sick.
At first the family was very wealthy. They had box at Opera. they belonged to social club where young girls, boys met. Played tennis. Anna had expensive clothes, music lessons. Very large house in Boro Park, front porch, servants. Very social life, many parties. A neighborhood of wealthy Jewish families.
Morris died fairly young man (in his 40s, think of stomach cancer). Family fell
apart. Celia had to sell house, moved to apartment with daughters. Eventually,
Celia had to be put in a nursing home. -
Max Waldman and Rachel Anna Gordon Get Married
They lived down the street from the Gordons. Max's older brother Joe proposed to Anna after 3 weeks of wining and dining, but she said no. Anna and Max had known each other for many years, but had not been in touch for long time. ^fife sat next to each other at a cousin's wedding. Right then, he asked her to marry him, courted her for 3 weeks. This
time, she said yes. But then he went to South America for 6 months. They were
married shortly after he returned home.
Ship records say he went to Cuba on May 15, 1925. Maybe that was the trip? -
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Robert Waldman
Martin loved radio and his favorite show was Stoopnagle and Budd. One day, Uncle Max and Aunt Anna surprised him with a trip to New York. Destination: Rockefeller Center, Radio City! NBC! They had gotten tickets to see a broadcast of Stoopnagle and Budd!!- (1)
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Living on Kings Highway
In high school he lived at 2828 Kings Highway between East 28th and 29th Street.
Before that he was in a two family house on East 23rd Street off Kings Highway when he went to P.S. 197
He also lived at a two family house, upstairs on Avenue L between Bedford and East 24, diagonally across from P.S. 193 -
World War 2 Civil Defense Messenger and "Scrap King"
Brooklyn, New York
With World War II in full swing, and everyone on alert, Marty served as a Civil Defense messenger, complete with helmet and armband, as America went through blackouts and scary false alarms. In the attached video, he describes becoming "scrap metal king." -
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Goes to work at WNYC
New York, New York
Working for the city he wrote speeches for Mayor Impelitterri, covered news events including the 1952 election, and pretended to know about classical music. This incredible audio is Marty covering Dwight Eisenhower's victory. Marty's part comes in at 3:22 minutes. His voice is relatively unrecognizable to modern friends and family.Michael Waldman
Marty reconnects with the Stuart Davis mural from his office at the Whitney, 2016.- (1)
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Robert Waldman
Martin helped his Cousin Rob (me) get work experience in p.r. when he asked Rob to office sit Communication Planners while he, Sandy and the boys went on their summer family vacations. Always thorough, Martin left explicit instructions for Rob on the care and feeding of the firm's clients, especially the Nassau County Medical Society. -
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Political consultant
New York
Early in the days of political media, Marty and Sandy are consultants for Nassau County Executive Eugene Nickerson in his reelection campaign -- then did the media for the New York State campaign of presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey. Nickerson won reelection in 1967 with the slogan "It Takes a Big Man to Run a Big County." In 1968, Humphrey won the state Democratic primary (contrary to the myth that he never ran), and won the state in the general election as he lost narrowly to Richard M. Nixon. -
Co-Founds COPAY, a drug treatment program
Great Neck
Marty helps found -- and is the first president of -- COPAY, a community organization to provide drug and alcohol treatment. It is still going strong and has helped thousands of people deal with addiction through the years. The PDF is Marty's speech at Temple Emanuel describing the birth history of COPAY. A few fascinating passages:
"It was back in 1969, a period of ferment in our country, and of changes in our communities. Young people were deeply troubled by a war that even adults had trouble justifying. There were new generational conflicts, uncertainty about the future, changes in family life, for some, lack of direction. An unfortunate component of the ferment that resulted was the spread of teenage drug abuse -- at first in the cities, and then to affluent suburbia.
In Great Neck, some people had recognized the problem, and small attempts here and there were made to do something about it. But there was no broad community-wide effort. In fact, some people wanted to pretend that the problem didn't exist.
[Chana Friend, the chairman of Nassau Country Drug Abuse Commission and Rabbi Widom of Temple Emanuel convinced me to help organize the effort]
The months that followed became a constant frenzy of activity, meetings, publicity, organizing, persuasion, arguments, politicking, negotiations and structuring...all designed to create an organization that was broad-based, could obtain county funding and would have acceptance and a positive chance for survival.
Above all, we wanted to create a professionally-run organization... an organization that could go beyond the individuals who created it.
It was not all fun and games. Anyone who is a student of the formation of organizations should take note: when a community organization is formed to meet a problem -- even with the most noble of motives -- there will always be a few people who will find it threatening -- some, in this case, because it reminded them of a problem they did not want to hear about, some who wanted to politically exploit the problem, some leaders who took offense because they felt that the creation of a new group somehow implied that existing organizations or institutions had failed to meet the problem. Fortunately, most people understood the need, and the ball was rolling.
As I look back at that year, I see a kaleidoscope of images -- I remember Rabbi Widom working on the phone till all hours to obtain the support of other clergy in the community who agreed to serve on our advisory board and encouraging several temple members to also serve on the initial board, as I recruited other leaders from outside the temple to also serve.
I remember Sol Friend, who we had drafted as our free attorney, sitting with me as we seriously discussed the name for the organization. It was vital that the word AND in "Community Organization for Parents AND YOUTH" be stressed. If we didn't COPAY might have been called COPY... not the best name for a new organization....
I well remember the team of Widom and Waldman begging, pleading and cajoling people for rent money and contributions for other expenses to get us rolling with the first contribution coming from the Temple's own Social Action Committee.
I remember Channa and I appearing before the Mayors of the nine villages to seek their support. I remember my wife Sandra calling everyone she knew through her years of involvement to form a brigade of volunteers who would answer the phones, who could be called upon for a variety of tasks, who could become the core of the future leadership of COPAY. I remember temple members bringing in paneling and providing free electrical work to make COPAY's first offices pleasant attractive.
I remember too, when my wife and I took part in a symposium on drug abuse on Channel 13, being asked by a representative of another community group, "Do you really think that a community group can do anything about a drug abuse problem?" I could only answer, "I dont know. But all we can do is try." -
Civic activist
Great Neck
In addition to founding COPAY, Marty committed himself to an incredible range of civic and community causes -- often without pay and often in leadership positions. An incomplete list:
President of the Public Library Board (he also voluntarily did PR for the campaign that led to the funding of a beautiful new public library
President, Washington Square College of NYU alumni association
Board of NYU Alumni Federation
Board of Family Service Association of Nassau County
Chair of Adult Education advisory committee of Great Neck schools
Board of Temple Emanuel of Great Neck -
PR Man Extraordinaire
New York, New York
He had a stunning range of clients in days at the helm of his own firm, Communications Planners. They included:
Interstate Cigar Company
Masters
Nassau County Medical Society
United Housing Foundation
Writers Guild of America East
Barneys
L.S. Amster
Great Neck Library campaign
Here are a few samples of their work -
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Crusading for labor unions to communicate better
In 1991, the book "With Just Cause: Unionization of the American Journalist" concluded with the essay "Reaching Out to the Media: A Union CAN Make Itself Heard". Around this time he also taught a course on labor communications and one on general communications at Adelphi. -
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The rural life Marty always wanted
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Though Marty was never much interested in hiking, fishing, skiing, snowboarding, kayacking, canooing, trees, wild animals or fresh air, he really wanted a house in the country! So they got a lovely place in Great Barrington -- which became a place for many, many great family memories. -
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Marty Dies
See this memorial for obituaries, eulogies and other remembrances.
https://www.lifeposts.com/p/milestone/69/.../rial/lifestory/