USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 18
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 18
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Born at Passaic, New Jersey, on November 27, 1908, Dr. Robinson is the son of Thomas F. and Jessie V. (Cunningham) Robinson, both natives of this New Jersey city. He attended local grade schools, was prepared for higher education in the Passaic High School, and matriculated at Providence College, where he was graduated cum laude, in the class of 1931, with the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy. For his technical studies he entered the Long Island College of Medicine, where he was graduated a Doctor of Medicine, in 1935. He served as an intern at St. Catherine's Hospital, Brooklyn, New York, from 1935 to 1937, and was resident physician at the South- side Hospital, Bay Shore, Long Island, during 1937-38.
Since the latter-named year, Dr. Robinson has practiced his profession as physician and surgeon in Port Jefferson. In addition to his large private prac- tice, he is president of the Medical Board, St. Charles Hospital, Port Jefferson, and chief of medicine at this same institution; chief of medicine and cardiolo- gist at the John T. Mather Memorial Hospital, Port Jefferson; assistant attending cardiologist at the Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, and member of the courtesy staff of Southside Hospital, Bay Shore; also school physician at Infant Jesus School. Dr. Robinson is a member of the associated physicians of Long Island, and numbers among his professional memberships those in the Southside Clinical Society, the American Medical Association, New York Medical Society, and the Suffolk County Medical Society, and the New York Heart Association and the American Heart Association. He is a former president of the Long Island Chapter of the Theta Kappa Psi fra- ternity, and is affiliated with the Knights of Columbus, Port Jefferson, and worships at the Church of Infant Jesus, Roman Catholic. His recreations are mainly fishing and hunting.
Dr. Thomas F. Robinson married Evelyn B. Kreutz,
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of Richmond Hill, Long Island, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. August Kreutz, of New York. Dr. and Mrs. Robinson are the parents of four children, all born at Port Jefferson: 1. Brenda, born January 20, 1939. 2. Thomas, born May 24, 1940. 3. Barbara, born March 31, 1943. 4. Mark, born October 8, 1944.
MILLARD IRVING REEVE-Long in the bank- ing business in Suffolk County, Millard Irving Reeve is now cashier of the National Bank of Lake Konkon- koma.
He was born in Port Jefferson on September 30, 1900, son of the late Albert Henry Reeve, who was a merchant in that community, and of Annie (Atkins) Reeve, a native of England who came to the United States as a girl and who soon after moving to Port Jefferson became the wife of the merchant. The elder Mr. Reeve died in 1938. His widow continues to make her home in Port Jefferson.
Millard I. Reeve was educated in Port Jefferson's elementary and high schools, graduating from the latter in 1921, and at Brown's Business College in Brooklyn. From 1923 to 1927 he was with the Key- stone Coal and Supply Company at Port Jefferson. In 1927, he joined the staff of the First National Bank of Port Jefferson, and in the next fifteen years held various positions in that institution. In August, 1942, he resigned to accept a position with the Na- tional Bank of Ronkonkoma. In January, 1943, he was appointed cashier of this bank, the position he holds today.
Mr. Reeve is an honorary member of the Port Jeff- erson Volunteer Fire Department and a member of the Suffolk Lodge No. 60, Free and Accepted Masons, and the Lions Club, both at Port Jefferson. He worships at the Methodist church.
He married Thelma Layton Wheeler of Stillmore, Georgia, and they are the parents of a son, Layton Wheeler Reeve, born in Stillmore in 1924. Young Mr. Reeve is a graduate of Georgia Military College. In World War II, he served as a turret gunner in the Army Air Forces in the Pacific Theater of Opera- tions, with the rating of staff sergeant. After the war, he entered George Washington University, Washington, D. C.
JOSEPH L. MARTIN-As an attorney, Joseph L. Martin has a large clientele throughout a large area of Long Island. In practice at Glen Cove a dozen years, he has been at Sea Cliff since early 1946. Aside from his general practice, Mr. Martin is counsel for the First National Bank of Glen Head and clerk of the Sea Cliff Board of Education.
Mr. Martin was born at Sea Cliff on August 26, 1905, the son of Joseph M. and the late Alida (Woods) Martin. Joseph M. Martin, born in New York City in 1870, has been a building contractor in Sea Cliff for many years. The attorney's mother, a native of Round- out, New York, died on August 21, 1921.
Joseph L. Martin was graduated from high school in Sea Cliff in 1923. For his prelegal education he went to the University of Florida for two years. In 1932 he was graduated from the Brooklyn Law School of St. Lawrence University with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In November, 1933, he was ad- mitted to the bar.
At the outset of his career Mr. Martin established himself in Glen Cove, where with each succeeding year his following increased. In 1946, he moved his offices to 354 Carpenter Avenue, in Sea Cliff, where he continued his practice without a break. Aside
from his connections with the First National Bank of Glen Head and the Sea Cliff school board, Mr. Martin has other organizational interests. He is, in addition, a member of the Sea Cliff Yacht Club and the Sea Cliff Methodist Episcopal Church. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Martin married May Finnin, daughter of Michael and Mary (Martin) Finnin of Sea Cliff, in that community on June 29, 1935. Mr. and Mrs. Martin have one daughter, Betty, born December 6, 1940.
HARRY L. WOLPERT-In 1910, when he was approaching his twentieth birthday, Harry L. Wol- pert became a runner for a bank in New York City. Twenty years later, he was president of the First National Bank of East Islip and active in two other major, businesses, in church, welfare, youth and civic enterprises there. He is now president of the Islip Sanitary Laundry, Inc., director of the Wolpert Real- ty Company, Inc., a foremost Lutheran layman and the leading adult sponsor of Boy Scout work in the Islip area.
Mr. Wolpert was born in New York City on October 30, 1890, the son of Andrew and Kuni (Fuchs) Wolpert. His father, long deceased, was a real estate operator in Brooklyn and Long Island. After being graduated from the Boys' High School in Brooklyn, Harry L. Wolpert became a runner for the Mechanics and Metals Bank in New York City. From 1910 to 1918 he was with this bank and by the time he left its employ he was general bookkeep- er and clerk. In 1918 Mr. Wolpert came to Long Is- land to accept the cashiership of the First National Bank of East Islip. In 1930 he was named president of that bank. He has also become president of the Islip Sanitary Laundry, Inc., which he started in 1922 and today it is one of the largest in Suffolk County, employing over sixty people, and director of the Wolpert Realty Company, Inc., of Islip Terrace.
Active in the communal life of the area in which he has so long made his home, Mr. Wolpert is a past president of the Rotary Club of Bayshore, chair- man of District 8, Boy Scouts of America, and pre- sident of the council of St. Luke's Lutheran Church of Bayshore. He is a member of the Meridian Lodge, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, at Islip.
Mr. Wolpert married Louise Bieling of Brooklyn in that borough in December, 1914. Mrs. Wolpert is the daughter of Frank and Clara Bieling. Mr. and Mrs. Wolpert are the parents of three children: Harry L., Jr., born in Brooklyn on July 3, 1917; served in the United States Army in World War II with three years service in Iceland and one year in Eng- land and France as a sergeant in mobile laundry units. Robert C., born in Islip in July, 1921, and Russell J., born in Bayshore on October 29, 1926. Harry L. Wolpert, Jr., a graduate of Bayshore High School and the American Institute of Laundering, is now assistant manager of the Islip Sanitary Laun- dry. Robert C. Wolpert, also a graduate of Bay- shore High School, attended Wagner College. Like his brother Harry, he served in the Army in World War II. Robert Wolpert was with the Twentieth Air Force in the Pacific Theater of Operations, at- tached to the Chemical Warfare Division in Hawaii and Saipan. Russell J. Wolpert, likewise a graduate of Bayshore High School, served as a radio operator in the United States Merchant Marine during World War II. After the war, he entered the Army and was
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attached to the Signal Corps. He served as radio operator in Japan in the Army of Occupation and was discharged in May, 1947.
WILLIAM COCKS, JR .- For sixteen years Wil- liam Cocks, Jr., was city judge of Glen Cove. He is also active in the private practice of law, with offices at 81 School Street, Glen Cove.
Judge Cocks was born in Glen Cove on November 25, 1887, the son of William H. and Margaret (Dowd) Cocks. Mr. Cocks, Senior, was born in New York City in 1857 and now makes his home in Glen Cove. Mrs. Margaret Cocks, born in New York City, died in May, 1909. Judge Cocks traces his descent from James Cocks, a Quaker, who came to the United States from England in 1771 and settled at Oyster Bay.
The future judge was educated first in the Glen Cove public schools, being graduated from the high school in 1907. To prepare for the bar, he studied in the College of Law of Cornell University, from which he was graduated in 1910 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. In June, 1912, he was ad- mitted to the bar. For the next five years he was with various insurance firms, serving on their legal staffs. These included the New England Casualty Company, the Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland and the Casualty Company of America. He then became a member of the law firm of Menkel and Hinckley. in New York City. In the fall of 1917, he was elected city judge of Glen Cove, held that office for sixteen years and has centered all his legal and social activi- ties in that community. Judge Cocks was re-elected to the city judgeship three times, and has won wide respect for the manner in which he administers the bench. His private practice, in general law, is ex- tensive.
Judge Cocks is a member of the Nassau County and New York State bar associations. the Association of Magistrates, Glen Cove Lodge No. 1458, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Knights of Colum- bus, and the Cornell Club of New York City. He worships at St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church and is a Democrat. His hobby is gardening.
On April 12, 1913, Judge Cocks married Jane Adele Meehan, daughter of Edward and Charlotte ( McClave) Meehan of Sea Cliff. Judge and Mrs. Cocks are the parents of five children: William Wil- lard. who served with the Marines in World War II and married Jane Montfort of Glen Cove and is the father of two daughters, Judith and Susan; Mary Adele, who served with the WAVES, married Eugene Pringle and has a son Ralph; Burton, who served with the Marines and is married to the former Eliza- beth McGilvray and has a son, Gordon and a daughter, Elizabeth Ann; Leonard, who also served with the Marines in World War II, married Helen Carter of Glen Cove, New York; and Jane M. Cocks. All the boys of the family who were in service in the war were stationed at various parts of the Pacific Theater of Operations.
Judge Cocks' hobby is gardening.
WARREN I. TITUS, M.D., F.A.C.P., was born at Coxsackie, Greene County, New York, on June 28, 1899. His mother, Irene Cook Cary, is a descendant of Robert Morris, one of the signers of the Declara- tion of Independence. His father. George Irving Titus, a prosperous monument manufacturer, was a descendant of the Titus family who settled in West- bury, Long Island, in 1680.
Dr. Titus graduated from the Coxsackie High School in 1916, and, at the time of his graduation, won the prize speaking contest and the prize for the largest number of regents points accumulated in one year. He then entered Union College, Schenectady, New York, and graduated in 1920 with the degree of Bachelor of Science in chemistry. At Union he was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity, manager of the varsity track team, member of the glee club, and took an active part in many extracurricular activities. In 1920 he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University in New York, and graduated in 1924 with the Master of Science and Doctor of Medicine degrees. He spent the next two years at the Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, which is evident from his subsequent membership in the Ex- Interne Society of the Methodist Hospital.
In 1926 he established general practice in Glen Cove, Long Island, but later confined his practice to the specialty of internal medicine. In addition to his private practice he serves as attending physician to the North Country Community Hospital in Glen Cove. He was formerly in the department of cardi- ology of the New York Post-Graduate Hospital. In 1942 he was elected a Fellow of the American Col- lege of Physicians. His other professional affiliations include membership in the American Medical Asso- ciation, American Heart Association, and the Asso- ciated Physicians of Long Island.
During the first World War he was in the Reserve Officers Training Corps. During the second World War he was an examining physician for local board No. 711. He belongs to the Glen Cove Lodge, and is a member of Nassau Country Club and Beaver Dam Club. He is a member of the Presbyterian Church and a follower of the Republican party.
At Coxsackie, Greene County, New York, on July 15. 1926, Warren Irving Titus married Ann Haswell Whitmore. a daughter of Collins and Mercy (Has- well) Whitmore. Of this marriage there are two children, namely: Warren I. Titus, Jr., who was born June 28, 1927, and Alan Whitmore Titus, who was born May 23, 1931.
FREDERICK E. MONTFORT-The Glen Cove Trust Company is a banking institution with re- sources of nearly $8,000,000. Its period of greatest development has been the one during which Frederick E. Montfort has been its president. He served Nassau County as its deputy county treasurer. In the more limited circle of Glen Cove itself, he has been treas- urer of the Rotary Club and on the board of vestry- men of St. Paul's Episcopal Church.
Mr. Montfort was born in the Nassau County community of Glen Head on September 12, 1884, the son of Eugene H. and Emily L. (Downing) Montfort, both of whom were also natives of that community. The elder Mr. Montfort was a carpenter. Both parents are now dead.
The future banker was educated in Glen Cove's elementary and high schools. After various other activities, he entered the employ of the bank as a receiving teller on November 12, 1917. It was then called the Glen Cove Bank and under that name had been established in 1892, with C. B. Gruman as its first president. In 1926, when Mr. Montfort had been acting as cashier for three years, the bank's name was changed to the Glen Cove Trust Company. Mr. Montfort's first promotion occurred in 1919, two years after he had entered the bank's emplov. He was made paying teller then. In 1920, he became
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assistant cashier and in 1923 cashier. In 1928, he was elevated to the bank's highest office.
As of December 31, 1947, the bank's statement of condition indicated that the resources were $8,107,- 390.93, of which. $4,471,311.79 were in United States Government Bonds, with $283,677.54 in Municipal Bonds and $960,077.40 in other stocks and bonds and $883,432.13 due from banks. The total deposits were $7,386,735-37. The capital stock was $200,000, with debentures and undivided profits running another $445,000.00.
Associated with Mr. Montfort in the administra- tion of the bank were Samuel J. Seaman, Jr., vice president; R. M. Van Cott, secretary; Harold V. A. Wait, assistant secretary; O. Edward Payne, counsel, and W. W. Bouton, trust officer. Besides Mr. Mont- fort, Mr. Seaman and Mr. Payne, the board of direc- tors consisted of James Willits, H. S. Bowne, William H. Seaman, Benjamin W. Downing, Winslow S. Coates, Arthur V. Youngs, W. Kirk Downing and William H. Ogden.
When Mr. Montfort was deputy county treasurer of Nassau County, he served under Daniel J. Hege- man. In addition to the Rotary Club and St. Paul's Episcopal Church, Mr. Montfort is a member of the Glen Cove Neighborhood Association. In politics he is a Republican.
Mr. Montfort married Elsie Jane Edmonds of Glen Cove in 1908. She is the daughter of Frank B. and Selina (Whiting) Edmonds. Mr. and Mrs. Montfort are the parents of three children: Gertrude L., now the wife of Stratton Buckhout and the mother of two sons, Stratton, Jr., and Roger M .; and Jane Elizabeth, wife of William W. Cocks, Jr., and mother of two daughters, Judith A. and Susan Sanford; and Frederick H., who married Ethelinda Bartlett and is the father of a son, Frederick C., and twin daughters Ethelinda and Lucia Rhodes.
SIDNEY R. SIBEN-Still well on the youthful side of middle age, Sidney R. Siben of Central Islip and Bay Shore is concededly a leader of the Suffolk County bar, and, as a trial lawyer specializing in criminal cases, is noted far beyond the borders of that county and is considered in fact one of the ablest advocates in the state of New York.
A native of Central Islip, Suffolk County, Mr. Siben is a son of Max and Bessie (Bean) Siben. His father, a native of Russia, now a retired mer- chant, came to the United States in 1890 and settled in Framingham, Massachusetts. There Sidney Robert Siben was born on February 11, 1911. He attended and graduated from the Eastern District high school in the borough of Brooklyn, New York City, after which he attended New York University in that city, taking his degree of Bachelor of Science there in 1931. Having at this time decided that the legal profession was his vocation, he continued his studies at the New York Unversity Law School, where he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1933.
Admitted to the bar of the State of New York in 1934, Mr. Siben established himself in the general practice of the law in Central Islip and in Bay Shore. Here he has built up a lucrative practice, specializ- ing, as noted above, in trial work and criminal cases. In addition, Mr. Siben serves as legal representative for the Veterans Administration for Suffolk County. In 1938 he accepted public office as assistant county attorney for Suffolk County, and continues to serve in this position at the present writing. He belongs to the Suffolk County Bar Association and the New
York State Bar Association, and also holds member- ship in the American Bar Association and New York County Lawyers Association. He has been a mem- ber of the Suffolk County Association for the past ten years.
During the Second World War Mr. Siben served in the court martial division of the Engineer Corps of the United States Army. He is affiliated with the Bayshore Chamber of Commerce, and was elected president of the Law Alumni of New York Univer- sity.
Active in local business and civic affairs, Mr. Siben serves as vice president and as a member of the board of directors of the Chambers of Commerce at Central Islip, and also belongs to the Lions Club, in which group he holds the office of secretary. He belongs to the American Legion and is attached to the veterans service office of that organization. He also serves as vice president of the Ross Sanitarium, and is president of Middle Country Realty Corpora- tion, one of the largest investment realty corporations in Long Island. He is fond of outdoor life and finds his recreation in golf, boating and fishing. He is associated with the Suffolk County Baseball League and acts as attorney and first vice president of the league.
Sidney R. Siben has three brothers, namely David W., Walter and Aaron Siben. During the Second World War David W. Siben, who lives in Bay Shore, served with distinction in the United States Army. He was awarded the Silver Star and three Purple Hearts for his gallantry in action, and is now classi- fied as a disabled veteran. Walter Siben, who was born at Central Islip, also answered the call to the colors of the United States Army. He is now a practicing attorney and counselor at law associated with Sidney Siben. Aaron Siben has also served in the United States Army, and is a college student.
In the city of New York on March 25, 1936, Sidney Robert Siben married Estella Suffin, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Suffin. Sidney Robert and Es- tella (Suffin) Siben are the parents of two children: I. Stephen, who was born in Bay Shore, Suffolk County, New York, in March 1938. 2. Constance, born at Bay Shore in June, 1941.
JOHN FRANCIS SCHWIETERS-For more than two decades John Francis Schwieters has been one of the highly esteemed professional men of kloral Park, and in his legal practice in New York City he is held in high regard by his colleagues. One of his favorite projects is the Greater New York Safety Council, Inc., of which he is one of the incorporators, and to which he has devoted a great deal of his time and energy.
Mr. Schwieters was born in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, on August 3, 1889, the son of John H. and Mary E. (Beck) Schwieters, both natives of Ft. Wayne. His father, who operated a wholesale baking business in Ft. Wayne, has the distinction of establishing the first bakery in that city. The younger Mr. Schwieters received his early education at Ft. Wayne High School, and later attended the University of Chicago for his Freshman year. In 1913 he was granted his Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University, and three years later received his Bachelor of Laws de- gree from Harvard Law School. The following year, in 1917, he enlisted in the United States Army, and served until 1918 as a sergeant in the Chemical War- fare Service.
Sidwy Siben
L.I .- 5
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. John Francis Schwieters served his apprenticeship in the New York law firm of Butler, Wyckoff and Campbell, at 54 Wall Street. When he returned from service in the United States Army, Mr. Schwieters be- came associated with the firm of Powell, Wynn and Roberts, of 165 Broad Street. Shortly thereafter on October 1, 1919, he married Norma Dee Childs, daughter of John Lewis Childs (former state senator, naturalist and seedsman, who founded the village of Floral Park), and Mary Caroline (Goldsmith) Childs. He thereupon decided to remain in the East rather than return to Ft. Wayne.
Mr. Schwieters began his private practice of the law in the Woolworth Building, and remained there from 1920 to 1935, when he moved his offices to 60 Wall Tower, 70 Pine Street, New York City, where he is still located. He established a local law office in Floral Park and at one time acted as village counsel. He is one of the incorporators, a director and general counsel of the Greater New York Safety Council, Inc.
In 1935 he organized a separate real estate broker- age business at his branch office at 124 Tulip Avenue in Floral Park, with his sister-in-law, Clarice H. Childs, in charge of that office. This firm known as Childs-Schwieters & Company now has two offices, one in Floral Park and another in New York City. In 1938 Mr. Schwieters with several associates formed Pine-Wall Tower Agency, Inc., General In- surance Brokers and still continues to act as president and director of this company.
Prominent in civic and social projects in Floral Park, Mr. Schwieters formerly served as secretary and is now president of the Floral Park Civic Im- provement Council and is a trustee of the Floral Park Board of Trade. Although now also a member of the Floral Park Lions Club, his interest in Lions International originated in the metropolitan area as a member of the Lions Club of New York beginning in 1930. This group is known as the Manhattan Host Club to all Lion groups throughout the world. He served as president of the club in 1934 and 1935, and in 1936 became the deputy district governor of the various Lions clubs located in Brooklyn, Staten Island, Manhattan and the Bronx. For a number of years he has held membership in the Nassau County Bar Association, and is vice president of the Mexico Pilgrims. His other affiliations include membership in the Cherry Valley Country Club in Garden City, the Advertising Club of New York, the Long Island Association and the Long Island Real Estate Board. While at Yale, Mr. Schwieters was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and is a member of the association known as Phi Beta Kappa Alumni in New York. He has been a member of the Yale Club since 1916 and at- tends services in Our Lady of Victory Church.
WILLIAM F. PLOCH-The bank crisis, that marked the peak of the late depression period, brought William F. Ploch into prominence in Nassau County and the entire state of New York, as the epitome of sound banking practice. It was he who defined a "sound bank," in terms acceptable to national au- thority, and the definition was formulated out of an experience and understanding that had been gathered in more than a score of years of banking association. Crisis brought him to the fore and proven worth has continued him as a leader, truly a banker's banker, ever since. Few current community endeavors are undertaken without his competent collaboration.
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