Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III, Part 48

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor
Publication date: 1949
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 922

USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 48
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III > Part 48

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During the second World War Mr. Munder, in his capacity as district attorney, worked closely and ef- fectively with the Federal Bureau of Investigation in connection with actual or attempted activities of enemy agents in Suffolk County, which with its very long coast line and many secluded spots, might other- wise have become the scene of dangerous subversive attempts against national security.

Mr. Munder was active also during the war as Suf- folk County chairman of the National War Fund. He is now serving as chairman of the North Suffolk Chapter of the American Red Cross, and is a member of the board of directors of the Armed Forces Con- valescent Service.

In his professional field, Mr. Munder holds member- ship in the American Bar Association. the New York State Bar Association and the Suffolk County Bar Association, and formerly sat on the board of directors of the last-named organization. His business interests extend to the banking field. and lie fills a directorship in the Huntington Station Bank. Long active in busi- ness and civic affairs, Mr. Munder's exceptional abili- ties and wide popularity have led to his being drafted for office in several organizations. He is a past presi- dent of the Huntington Chamber of Commerce, and holds the same distinction in the Huntington Rotary Club and in the South Side Civic Association. He is a member of the Huntington Lawvers Club. One of his chief interests is the Young Men's Christian As- sociation, and in addition to serving as vice-president and chairman of the Huntington Branch of that or- ganization, he sits on the board of directors of the "Y" for Nassau and Suffolk counties. He belongs to the Cold Spring Harbor Fire Department He is also a director of the Suffolk County Council of the Boy Scouts of America. His fraternal interests cen-

ter in the Huntington Lodge of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. With all these numerous in- terests, Mr. Munder during the late war nevertheless found time to serve as co-chairman in the Metropoli- tan area of the United Service Organizations. In politics Mr. Munder is a Republican, and a charter member of the Suffolk County Republican Club. He also belongs to the National Republican Club of New York City. He is in religion a Roman Catholic, and he and his family are communicants of St. Patrick's Church of that denomination.

Since his retirement from the office of district at- torney, Mr. Munder has engaged in the practice of the law as a member of the firm of Munder, Weiss- man and Lockwood, with offices at Huntington in Suffolk County.

At Astoria in the Borough of Queens, City of New York, Fred J. Munder married July 16, 1928, Mary C. Atkinson, a daughter of Edward A. and Jennie B. (McNamara) Atkinson. Mrs. Munder is a native of Astoria and a graduate of Loretto Academy in Niagara, New York. Of this marriage there are two children: 1. Mary Jane, who was born at Huntington, Suffolk County, on April 18. 1929, and now attends Marymount College at Tarrytown, Westchester County, New York. 2. Fred J., Jr., born on December 7, 1932, and now a student at the Huntington High School.

DOUGLAS VAN RIPER-A leading figure in real estate circles in Nassau County, Douglas Van Riper has been for more than twenty years engaged in developing those beautiful suburbs in which so many New Yorkers find ideal conditions for living, sur- rounded by natural beauties, although within a short journey by car or train to the busy commercial and professional centers of the metropolis of New York City.

Mr. Van Riper is a native Long Islander, born at Freeport on the South Shore, on May 7, 1899. His parents were Albert M .- and Isabelle (Sloan) Van Riper. His father was a builder, which doubtless had its influence in turning his thoughts and ambi- tions to the real estate field. In 1926 Douglas Van Riper entered the real estate and insurance business in his own right, at Bayside in the borough of Queens. New York City. Later he transferred his operations to the elite suburbs of Manhasset and Brookville in Nassau County, where he continues suc- cessfully to this time. He remains vice president and director of the Bayside Federal Savings and Loan Association.

During the first World War Mr. Van Riper was a sergeant in the United States Army and a member of the American Expeditionary Forces. He is now a member of Manhasset Post No. 304 of the Ameri- can Legion, and served as commander of Bayside Post No. 510 in 1927. In line with his business in- terests, he is president of the Manhasset Real Estate Board, the Long Island Real Estate Board and the Manhasset Chamber of Commerce. He also holds membership in the Manhasset Kiwanis' Club. Of old Dutch ancestry, he belongs to The Holland Society of New York. He is a member also of Bayside Lodge No. 999 of the Free and Accepted Masons. His re- ligious affiliation is with the Christ Episcopal Church of Manhasset.

On June 11, 1930, Douglas Van Riper was married at Englewood. New Jersey, to Helen B. Mackenzie, a daughter of Alexander and Adelaide (Bevins) Mac- kenzie. Of this marriage there are two children, both

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boys: 1. Douglas Mackenzie, who was born on Oc- tober 28, 1931. 2. Edward Sloan, born on August 21, 1937.

HARRY LEEDS DAYTON-During his profes- sional career, Harry Leeds Dayton has distinguished himself in investment, banking and financial circles, both in Queens County and in Nassau. His ability has won him steady advances in his field, and since 1936 he has been executive vice president and then presi- dent of the Bayside Federal Savings and Loan As- sociation of Bayside.

Mr. Dayton was born on February 24, 1887, in Mas- peth, Queens County, New York, the son of John and Mary E. (Leeds) Dayton. His father, who was born ninety years ago in Brooklyn, was a leading con- tractor and builder on Long Island and is now de- ceased. His mother, a native of Maryland, was born in Rising Sun in 1861 and also is deceased. The younger Dayton received his education in the ele- mentary public schools and at Dwight High School in New York City. Later he entered New York University.

Harry Leeds Dayton entered the business world as an employee of the First Mortgage Guarantee Com- pany of Long Island City. Through his boundless energy, diligence and intelligence, Mr. Dayton ad- vanced from one position of responsibility to another, until in 1919 he became assistant secretary of the Long Island City concern. In 1925 he was offered the post of assistant to the president of the New York Title and Mortgage Company, and remained with this firm until 1933. Mr. Dayton then accepted the vice presidency of the Inter-County Title and Mortgage Guaranty Company in Floral Park, Nassau County, in 1933. Three years later he joined the staff of the Bayside Federal Savings and Loan Associa- tion, and in addition to serving as president, he is also a director. Another post that he has filled is that of president of the Metropolitan League of Savings As- sociations in New York City, which he held for one year. In 1940 the present building which houses the Bayside Federal Savings and Loan Association was completed and attracted national attention for its unique design and appearance for a banking institu- tion made of Virginia hand made brick and Idaho knotty pine.

Mr. Dayton is a veteran of World War I, having served as second lieutenant, then first lieutenant and later as captain in the Army of the United States. Before his two-year army service, from 1917 to 1919, Mr. Dayton had joined the Seventh Regiment of the National Guard of New York as a private, early in 1911, and had been promoted through ranks of corporal and sergeant. Formerly a member, he is now a veteran of the Seventh and Eighth regiments.

As trustee of the Bowne House Historical Society, Inc., Mr. Dayton, together with his fellow officers, made plans for the celebration of the three-hundredth birthday of the Old Bowne house, which stands today in Flushing, as a reminder of. our rich, historical past. The first of the Bowne family settled in Flushing, then known as Vlissengen, in 1650, and their descend- ants today cooperated with the officers of the Bowne House Historical Society for the birthday observ- ance of this cherished landmark. His other com- munity activities are centered around the Flushing Young Men's Christian Association of which he is a member of the board of governors. He is also a trustee of the Flushing Cemetery Association. Fra-

ternally he is affiliated with the Bayside Lodge, No. 999, Free and Accepted Masons, of which he was the first secretary and a life member, and he holds membership in the Chamber of Commerce of Queens, and the American Legion. Mr. Dayton is a Republi- can by political affiliation, but has never, thus far, taken a leading position in the party. By faith he is an Episcopalian.

On May 7, 1925, Mr. Dayton married Anne Heiden- heim, daughter of Niels and Anne (Coverly) Heiden- heim, in Maplewood, New Jersey, and they are the parents of two children: 1. Anne Leeds, born October 23, 1929. 2. John Nils, born October 7, 1933. Mrs. Dayton died September 23, 1938.

MARTIAL G. WOLFF-Master from an early age of the ancient craft of cabinetmaking, Martial G. Wolff some seventeen or eighteen years ago be- came interested also in the skilled science of restor- ing antique furniture. A much traveled man, having worked as a cabinetmaker in several countries of Europe and South America, he brings to his restora- tive art the benefit of wide observation and study.

Born in Paris, France, on January 25, 1903, a son of Ernest and Anna (Lantz) Wolff, the education of Martial G. Wolff began in grammar schools in Europe and was continued at preparatory schools in New York City after he was brought as a boy to the United States, and at the Long Island University in Brooklyn, New York. As early as 1926 Mr. Wolff was engaged in cabinetmaking in New York City, and in 1929 he became associated with the firm of Ernest Hagen on East Twenty-sixth Street, borough of Manhattan, at that time beginning his career as an antique furniture restorer as well as a cabinet- maker. At the outbreak of the second World War Mr. Wolff entered the employment of the Sperry Gyroscope Company at its plant in Brooklyn, and con- tinued in war work there until V-J Day. Shortly thereafter Mr. Wolff resumed independent operations and so continues.

Martial G. Wolff is a communicant of the Roman Catholic Church. He married, October 7, 1946, Naomi Moore, of Ridgewood, Brooklyn.

HOWARD E. SCHENCK-During his entire adult life, Howard E. Schenck of Floral Park has been concerned with motor vehicles, first and for a number of years as the owner and operator of a garage, and now for more than twenty years as the head and directing genius of a transportation com- pany which from small beginnings has experienced a growth that illustrates the rewards obtainable in the form of financial success by those who are in- dustrious and energetic, far-seeing to take advan- tage of opportunity, and alert not to "miss the bus."

Mr. Schenck is a native Long Islander, born, as his father and mother were before him, at Locust Valley. Howard L. Schenck, a steam engineer, who is still living, married Elizabeth Valentine, who died in 1938. Of this union Howard E. Schenck was born on Feburary 8, 1898. He attended public school in Mineola. Making his first business venture in 1919, he had a garage and machine shop, which he operated successfully until 1927. But his ambition looked for larger opportunities than that which the garage busi- ness in Roslyn afforded, and these opportunities he found in the field of public transportation.

On April 16, 1926, the Schenck Transportation Company, Inc., was formed, with Howard E. Schenck

Fabian Fachrad

Howard E. Schenck

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as president, and Lester E. Weidner (q. v.) holding the positions of vice president and general manager. Since 1927 the affairs of the Schenck Transportation Company, which has grown rapidly and become a highly successful enterprise, have been Mr. Schenck's sole interest in the field of business.

When it began operations, the Schenck Transporta- tion Company, with its headquarters in Mineola, had a fleet of four A. B. Mack buses. Before long head- quarters were moved to 372 Jericho Turnpike in Floral Park, where Mr. Schenck had an automobile agency known as Park Auto Sales. This is still the company's address, but its operations today are on a vastly greater scale. Their original route was from Mineola, the county seat of Nassau County, to 212th Place in Queens Village. They have kept pace with the phenomenal development of central, western and northern Nassau County and almost all of their routes have been pioneered in the town of North Hempstead, and parts of the towns of Oyster Bay and Hempstead. Comparative figures are always in- teresting. At the beginning of operations in 1926 they had four buses, seventeen employees, and covered seven route miles. Today ninety buses are operated, with one hundred and ninety-four employees, and seventy route miles are covered. Their buses pass the former Sperry Gyroscope Company plant at Lake Success, which is now the temporary home of the United Nations organization.

Schenck Transportation Company buses thus af- ford facilities for the people over a wide area of Nassau County and into the borough of Queens, where they connect with the terminals of the New York City subway system in Jamaica and Flushing. During World War II, the company was called upon with heavy demands in carrying war plant personnel on schedule, and stood ready in an emergency for any assignment by the Government.

Apart from business, Howard E. Schenck finds time to engage in many phases of civic and social life, and he is widely known and popular throughout Nassau County. He is a member of the Lions Club of Floral Park and also belongs to the Long Island Associa- tion and to the North Shore Game Protective Associa- tion. He holds membership in the Wheatley Hills Golf Club and in the South Shore Yacht Club, and is affiliated with Lodge No. 985, in Mineola, of the Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Schenck is a member of the Community Church at East Williston. In the line of his business interests, he belongs to the New York State Motor Bus Association, to the Chamber of Com- merce of the Borough of Queens, New York City, and to the Chamber of Jamaica in that borough.

On November 21, 1919, Howard E. Schenck mar- ried Gladys Davis of Mineola, Nassau County, daugh- ter of Frank and Alice (Smith) Davis. Of this mar- riage the children are one son and one daughter: I. Howard E., Jr., born October 1, 1926. 2. Marilyn Ann, born March 16, 1931.

ALICIA R. O'CONNOR-A native of Westbury, Alicia R. O'Connor has had a distinguished career in that community and throughout Nassau County as lawyer, Democratic leader, police judge and Spe- cial Assistant United States Attorney General.

Miss O'Connor was born on July 14, 1906, the daughter of Charles and Rose Donovan O'Connor. Her father, now retired, is the former postmaster of Westbury.

Miss O'Connor received her early education in the elementary and high schools of her birthplace. She L.I .- 18

then took a course at Wood's Secretarial School. To complete her education and to prepare for her pro- fessional career, she took the pre-legal courses at St. John's University and, finally, received her legal degree from St. John's Law School. She has been in practice at Westbury since May, 1936.

Miss O'Connor is a member of the Democratic County committee, the Democratic State committee and the Nassau County Democratic executive com- mittee. She has served as Special Assistant United States Attorney General and for some years served as Westbury's police judge. Among the organiza- tions to which she belongs is the Nassau County Women's Bar Association. Of this Miss O'Connor was secretary in 1941-42 and president in 1942-43 and is a member of New York State Bar Association. She is also a member of the Democratic Lawyers As- sociation and the Catholic Lawyers Guild. She is a communicant of the Roman Catholic Church.

Miss O'Connor was elected in May, 1947, for a three-year term on the Westbury board of education. She is also chairman of the village of Westbury planning board.

RONALD EDWARD BYRNE-The Byrne Real Estate Agency at Great Neck has for years played a large part in the development of Great Neck and its founder, Ronald Edward Byrne, is as a result well-known on the island.

Mr. Byrne was born in Brooklyn on November I, 1902, the son of Francis James and Mary Agnes (Hughes) Byrne. The elder Mr. Byrne, a chemist, was at one time an alderman and, later, represented the tenth assembly district in the legislature at Al- bany. Ronald E. Byrne received his education at the Brooklyn Preparatory Institute, from which he was graduated in 1922. From 1927 to 1936, he was busi- ness manager of the Brooklyn office of the Chemical Bank and Trust Company. In November, 1936, he established the Byrne Real Estate Agency in Great Neck, with Miss Marguerite B. McKelvey as his manager. They handle all types of real estate and are specialists in general insurance. Mr. Byrne is a former trustee of the Brooklyn Federal Savings and Loan Association and is treasurer of the Great Neck Real Eestate Board. He is a member, also, of the Long Island Real Estate Board and the Knights of Colum- bus. With his family, he worships at the St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church in Great Neck.

Mr. Byrne married Lillian Carlin, daughter of Patrick J. and Lillian (Reynolds) Carlin, in Brooklyn on February 8, 1928. They are the parents of three children: Ronald E., Jr., born November 19, 1928; Richard Carlin, born April 24, 1936, and Denise Frances, born August 10, 1938.

EDMUND D. PURCELL-No area of suburban Nassau County has experienced a more notable growth in the last thirty years than Floral Park, an ideal home community of high standards and pro- gressive spirit. For something like twenty-seven of those years, Edmund Purcell has been a dynamic and constructive force in this development; but indeed his leadership in the real estate and insurance fields is acknowledged beyond the border of Floral Park and even beyond the boundaries of Nassau.

Born in New York City on December 1, 1892, Mr. Purcell is a son of William B. Purcell. who through- out his entire career has been associated with the Western Union Telegraph Company in New York,

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and is now wire chief of that organization. William B. Purcell married Jennie C. Doyle, whose father, Edward Doyle, was of a family long settled in West- bury, Nassau County, though they later moved farther out on the Island to Huntington. William B. Purcell moved with his family to Floral Park in the year 1900, when Edmund D. Purcell was a lad in his eighth year. His education had already begun in the public schools of New York City, and was continued on Long Island. He attended the Jamaica High School in Queens County, and then for two years took evening courses at the Polytechnic Preparatory Institute in the borough of Brooklyn.

In 1916 Edmund Purcell enlisted in the 22nc Regiment of Engineers, New York State National Guard, and in the same year served with it on the. Mexican Border. He was sent with the Company il 1917 to lay out Camp Upton. From there he war assigned to Officers' Training School at Plattsburg New York, and after finishing this course, with the rank of second lieutenant, he attended the second Officers' Training School at Little Silver, New Jersey He went to France early in January, 1918, and in May of that year, while still overseas, he was made a first lieutenant. After the Armistice he went to Russia in connection with telephone and telegraph communi- cation under the direction of Herbert Hoover and re- turned to the United States in October, 1919, when he received his honorable discharge.

Edmund D. Purcell's first steps in the business world were taken as an employee of the Mechanics and Metals National Bank of New York City. Next he entered the employment of the New York Tele- phone Company, attached to that corporation's Long Island division and toward the end of October of that year he established himself in the real estate and insurance business at Floral Park, with keen foresight perceiving the destined growth of that sub- urb and the adjacent areas of Nassau County, which indeed came to pass in the following decades. Mr. Purcell from the first has had a lucrative business which under his able management has grown with the growth of population and prosperity in that part of Long Island. He served as president of Long Island Real Estate Board in 1942 and 1943.

By temperament both a public-spirited and a sociable man, Mr. Purcell has long been deeply in- volved in many civic and social activities. As a veteran he naturally belongs to the American Legion, of which in 1920 he was first regular commander of the Floral Park Post, and to the Veterans of Foreign Wars. He is an active and leading member of the Lions Club of Floral Park, which he served as presi- dent in 1933. From 1933 to 1938 he was chairman of the Floral Park grade crossing elimination commit- tee, giving his time freely to the energetic support of a movement of the greatest importance to his village as to so many others on Long Island, namely the promotion of safety by doing away with the peril pre- sented whenever a railroad and a highway or by-way cross each other at the same grade. Mr. Purcell is now chairman of the Floral Park Civic Improvement Council, and he also serves as president of the Citizens Symphony Orchestra of Floral Park, an organization such as few small communities can boast, and a source of cultural enjoyment and pride to the people of Floral Park and its vicinity. Mr. Purcell's fraternal interests center in his membership in the Knights of Columbus. A Roman Catholic in religion, he is a communicant of the Church of Our Lady of Victory of that denomination. During the second World War

Mr. Purcell reorganized the Civilian Defense or- ganization of Floral Park in 1942, and served as its director.

At Alexandria Bay, New York, in the far-famed Thousand Islands, Edmund D. Purcell was married on June 29, 1921, to Gretta A. Putnam, a daughter of Walter and Fanny (Wells) Putnam. Of this union there are three children: I. Robert Putnam, who was born on May 28, 1923. He graduated from the Uni- versity of Notre Dame in 1946, with the degree of Civil Engineer. 2. Charles Edmund, who was born on September 18, 1926, enlisted in Marine Corps at seventeen. 3. Ellen Wells, born on May 28, 1931.

BURDGE PERINE MacLEAN, M.D .- In private practice as physician and surgeon in Huntington for twenty-four years, Dr. Burdge Perine MacLean has since 1932 been deputy commissioner of health of Suffolk County. He is an acknowledged leader in the medical profession, especially in the field of public health. He is also prominent in fraternal affairs and, being a veteran of World War I, in those of the American Legion.

Dr. MacLean was born in Brooklyn on September 18, 1882, the son of Burdge P. MacLean, a native of Brooklyn, and of Emelina (Drewry) MacLean, who was a native of New York. Following graduation from the Southside High School at Rockville Centre, the future public health specialist prepared for his profession at the New York University College of Medicine, from which he was graduated in 1906 with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. A two-year intern- ship at Brooklyn Hospital followed and 1908 found Dr. MacLean in practice in Huntington.

Before the United States was precipitated into World War I, Dr. MacLean became, in 1916 the first captain of Troop K, Squadron C, in New York Na- tional Guard. The following year, after the declara- tion of war against Germany, he was commissioned a captain in the United States Army Medical Corps. He served in this country as well as in France and Germany. After the war, he returned to his private practice in Huntington, but in 1932 turned his large following over to other physicians to be free to ac- cept appointment as deputy commissioner of health of Suffolk County. He has retained this office ever since and been responsible for numerous innovations and for considerable progress in public health meas- ures. He was director of school health service in the public schools of Huntington for about thirty years. He is a Fellow of the American Public Health Asso- ciation, a former president of the Second District Branch of the New York State Medical Society, and is first vice president of the New York State Health Officers' Association. He is also a member of the American Medical Association and the American Association of School Health Officials.

Outside his professional career, Dr. MacLean is a past master of Jephtha Lodge, No. 494, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of which he is now a life mem- ber; past master, Huntington Council, Royal and Select Masons; past commander, Huntington Com- madery, Knights Templar, . He served four terms as commander of the Huntington Post of the Ameri- can Legion and was the first president of the Rotary Club at Huntington.

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Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume III, Part 48

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor Publication date: 1949 Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 922

Author: Bailey, Paul, 1885-1962, editor
Publication date: 1949
Publisher: New York, Lewis Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 922