USA > New York > Bronx County > The Bronx and its people; a history, 1609-1927, Volume III > Part 59
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Louis E. Levy was born May 12, 1867, in Walf, Alsace, France, where he attended the public schools. When he was fourteen years old, he began work as a clerk in a store in Bordeaux, France, and early in life decided to come to the United States; he at first settled in Brooklyn, New York, where he entered the employ of Benjamin & Kaufman, dry goods mer- chants, remaining with that firm five years. Mr. Levy then established himself in business on his own account in a store at the corner of Willis Avenue and One Hundred and Thirty-seventh Street in The Bronx, and from the beginning this venture proved a success. It was continued until 1900, when Mr. Levy sold out and returned to Brooklyn and bought a partnership in the business of I. L. & L. E. Levy, dry goods merchants. He withdrew from this part- nership after one year in order to start a business in a store that he had built in partnership with his cous- in, Nathan Levy, in The Bronx, at the corner of One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Street and Third Avenue. This business was opened to the public in 1901, and the partnership was continued in this store known as the Bostonian until 1921, when the members of the firm made a mutual agreement to separate, after having built, in 1913, another large store, also known as the Bostonian at Nos. 771-73 Tremont Ave- nue, which also prospered. All assets then being equally divided, Louis E. Levy retained the store at Third Avenue and One Hundred and Sixty-fourth Street, Nathan Levy continuing the store at Nos. 771-73 Tremont Avenue. Mr. Levy is a member of the Rotary Club, of The Bronx.
Louis E. Levy married, June 26, 1895, in Brooklyn, Ray Levy, daughter of Mendel Levy, who was born in Alsace, France, and of Caroline (Cohn) Levy, a native of Stuttgart, Württemberg, Germany. Their children: 1. Lillian, born July 24, 1896; married Joseph M. Sands, of the Sands Manufacturing Com- pany, Cleveland, Ohio, and they have two children, Doris Sands, born May 8, 1921, and Merrill Sands, born April 22, 1923. 2. Norman Levy, born Novem- ber 16, 1899.
MAX SAVILLE REBARBER-Ever since his admission to the bar, Mr. Rebarber has practiced his profession in The Bronx where he is considered one of the most active amongst the younger generation of lawyers. He was born in New York City, Oc- tober 8, 1896, a son of Falk and Augusta Rebarber. His father, born in Austria in 1867, had come to the United States in 1885 and for many years was suc-
cessfully engaged in the manufacture of skirts. He is now retired.
Max Saville Rebarber was educated in the public schools of New York City, graduating in 1910 from Public School No. 40 and in 1914 from Stuyvesant High School. He then studied law at the Fordham University School of Law from which he graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Laws in 1919. In June of the same year he was admitted to the bar and has since then carried on, with offices at No. 510 Claremont Parkway, The Bronx, a general law practice in which, however, cases pertaining to real estate predominate. He is counsel for the Pucho- vitzer Finance Corporation, a corporation engaged in lending money on mortgages and in assisting in the development of safe and promising building operations. It derives its name from the Polish town of Puchovitz from which many of its stock- holders originated. During the World War Mr. Re- barber was a member of the United States Naval Reserve, serving for ten months with the rank of chief yeoman, stationed in New York City. He is a member of Knights of Israel Lodge, Independent Order of B'rith Abraham, and Past vice-Chancellor of Lucullus Lodge, Knights of Pythias. His interest in charitable and civic affairs is expressed by his membership in the First Ladies' Day Nursery of The Bronx and by conducting weekly free classes in citi- zenship to residents of his neighborhood which has a large foreign population. In politics he is a sup- porter of the Democratic party and as such a mem- ber of the Society of Tammany, the Tackamuck Democratic Club, and the Highbridge Democratic Club, being also a member of the board of governors of the latter. He is also a member of The Bronx Democratic Speakers' Bureau. His religious affilia- tions are with the Jewish faith and he is a member of the Concourse Center of Israel.
Mr. Rebarber married, January 1, 1920, in New York City, Witty Fendrick, daughter of Bert and Clara Fendrick, both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Re- barber are the parents of one child, Sylvia, born Feb- ruary 1, 1921. The family home is at No. 1772 Weeks Avenue, The Bronx.
MURRAY L. BRANDT, M. D .- Inspired by a generous and altruistic interest in suffering humanity, gifted with rare intuition and delicacy of touch, Dr. Murray L. Brandt wisely chose the medical profes- sion as that in which his faculties would find freest expression. The wisdom of his choice and the ad- vantages to such a community as The Bronx of a skilled and sympathetic physician have been fully illustrated by his long and successful practice. He specializes in obstetrics and gynecology, and his offi- ces are at No. 1362 Grand Concourse. Dr. Brandt was born in New York City on January 11, 1892, son of Joseph and Anna (Lampel) Brandt, both residing in New York City.
The son attended De Witt Clinton High School and New York University, completing his medical training at Bellevue Medical School, receiving his de- gree as Doctor of Medicine in 1914. His interne- ship was passed at the Brooklyn Jewish Hospital. He was then resident physician of Long Island Col- lege Hospital until 1916, when, theoretically well-
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prepared, and practically experienced, he opened offices of his own in The Bronx. Throughout the course of his private practice he has specialized in obstetrics and gynecology, having served at Ford- ham Medical College as an instructor in the first- named branch of medicine. Dr. Brandt is associat- ed with Fordham and Mt. Zion hospitals. He is a member of the County and State Medical associations and of The Bronx Gynecological and Obstetrical So- ciety. Having attained so secure a place in the van of the medical profession of The Bronx while still a young man, a long and useful career can safely be predicted for Dr. Brandt.
LEON FRANCIS SCULLY-For the last few years, ever since he entered business on his own account about 1922, his native region, the eastern part of The Bronx, has been the scene of Mr. Scully's very successful business activities. His offices in recent years have been located at No. 33 Westches- ter Square, The Bronx, where he conducts an ex- tensive general real estate and insurance business, including the handling of mortgages. He was born in that part of East Bronx, then known as West- chester Village, October 31, 1901, a son of John J. and Mary (Coffey) Scully, both natives of County Westmeath, Ireland. His father was born there Sep- tember 7, 1845; came to the United States as a young man; and settled in Westchester Village, The Bronx, where he was very prominent and successful for many years as a general contractor. He died April 14, 1926, in his eighty-first year, survived, be- sides by his son, also by his widow.
Leon Francis Scully was educated in the public and parochial schools, attending Public School No. 12 in the Westchester section of The Bronx, and St. Gabriel's Parochial School at New Rochelle. He then became a student at the Fordham Preparatory School and College, and later at the Fordham Uni- versity Law School. In 1922 he entered the employ of the Westchester Title and Trust Company in White Plains, Westchester County, New York, but after a very short time he decided to establish him-
self in the real estate business. His first office was located on Eastern Boulevard, in the Throggs Neck Section of East Bronx, from where he later moved to his present location at No. 33 Westchester Square. There, in large, well-equipped offices, he carried on successfully an extensive general real estate business, which, as a result of his untiring energy and his great ability, is meeting with marked success and is enjoying a rapid and steady growth. He is a member of New Rochelle Council, No. 339, Knights of Columbus; Xi Chapter, Gamma Etta Gamma Fraternity; and the Chippewa Democratic Club.
Mr. Scully is not married, and makes his home at No. 12 Main Street, New Rochelle, Westchester County.
GEORGE LORENSEN-To the initiative, loy- alty and business acumen of George Lorensen, presi- dent and treasurer of the Guaranteed Awning Com- pany, Incorporated, The Bronx section of New York, as well as the city at large, owes one of its live as- sets as a contributing force to the general commer-
cial prosperity. Here is a German-born man, who made it his first business, on coming to America, to declare his allegiance to the United States, and the bond that he then contracted he has endeavored with sincerity and fullness of devotion to execute. How well he has succeeded, The Bronx and its people, as well as the fine line of customers Mr. Lorensen's concern has retained, will be happy to relate. The dispatch with which Mr. Lorensen was accepted into the citizenship of the United States reflects credit upon the finished education he received in his Father- land, where he enjoyed the advantages of courses in a well-known university. He was already a man of standing in his community, when he came to this country, and virtually from the beginning of his resi- dence in The Bronx he has made a success of the enterprise of which he became the head the very year he settled here.
The varied industries of The Bronx have a special interest and distinct value placed upon them in the excellence as well as the popularity of the product of the Guaranteed Awning Company, Incorporated. The prosperity that has come to this concern has been achieved largely through the able business, pub- licity and distributive methods inaugurated by Mr. Lorensen. This Bronx business leader maintains a definite interest in civic affairs, and is prominently identified with fraternal and social organizations of the community.
George Lorensen was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, December 10, 1878, the son of Mathias Lorensen, an honest and thrifty farmer. He attended the grade and high schools of his native city and was graduated from the famous Dusseldorf University. He arrived in the United States January 17, 1912, with a cash capital of twenty-eight dollars and seventy cents. He was then thirty-four years old, and about the first detail to which he gave attention was the taking out of his "first papers" in the process of naturaliza- tion. He was an extraordinarily good subject and was accepted as a citizen with full privileges on May 31, 1917.
In 1912, he began to engage in the manufacture of canvas and duck products, under the style of the Guaranteed Awning Company, Inc, which had been a simple partnership from the year of its organiza- tion, 1885, until the time that Mr. Lorensen entered the concern and became president. His wife is sec- retary of the corporation. The purpose of the com- pany is the manufacture of awnings, shades, can- opies, sails and other canvas goods. A large propor- tion of its business consists of equipping, under con- tract, large and important buildings with shades and awnings. Among these buildings are the Grand Con- course Plaza, the Vanderbilt Hotel, Bretton Hall, Park Chambers, Hotel Madison, Mayfair House, and other apartment houses and hotels on Park and Madison avenues; also high-class residences and well-known country and other club houses in West- chester County and on Long Island. Mr. Lorensen is the principal factor in the progress of the company, and holds the concern, its products and service up to the high standards which constitute its objective.
Mr. Lorensen is affiliated with the Free and Ac- cepted Masons, being the Master of Hermann Lodge, No. 268; member of Corinthian Chapter, Royal Arch
Team & Scully leon
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Masons; Columbian Council, Royal and Select Mas- ters; Ivanhoe Commandery, Knights Templar; and Mecca Temple, Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He belongs to the Liederkranz and Schnorer clubs and the Harlem Independent Schuet- zen Corps. He is an enthusiastic member of The Bronx Board of Trade, and a member of its member- ship and industrial committees. His religious fel- lowship is with the East One Hundred and Fortieth Street Lutheran Church.
George Lorensen married, September 15, 1904, in Germany, Ettie Klusmann. They have their resi- dence at No. 475 Pelham Avenue, West, and Mr. Lorensen has his factory and offices at No. 411 East One Hundred and Forty-fifth Street, The Bronx, New York City.
ISAAC GOLDSTEIN, M. D .- Merited success has attended the practice of Dr. Isaac Goldstein, and with his establishment of his offices in The Bronx, his medical activities in his chosen field have been of steadily increasing proportions. He is a son of Harris Goldstein, who was born in Russia and who came to the United States when he was thirty-five years old, and of Rae Goldstein, who survives her husband.
Dr. Isaac Goldstein was born March 11, 1892, in New York City, where he attended the public schools, Preparing for his profession at the New York Ho- mœopathic Flower Hospital, he was graduated there in the class of 1920, with his medical degree. Since 1920, Dr. Goldstein has engaged in general practice, with his residence in The Bronx, and he is associated with the Lebanon Hospital Dispensary.
Dr. Goldstein is a member of the New York State and The Bronx Medical societies; of the Nocoma Club; and the Phi Sigma Delta and Phi Delta Epsi- lon college fraternities.
Dr. Isaac Goldstein married, February 19, 1916, in The Bronx, Margaret Usoskin, daughter of Henry Usoskin, a stationer, and Pauline Usoskin.
JOSEPH PERLBINDER-Long associated with the most substantial of real estate activities in The Bronx, a builder of durable and attractive apartments, and a contractor of established repute, Joseph Perl- binder has performed a very considerable share in the material progress of this attractive centre of population, where his work has upon it the stamp of general excellence. Prominent as a builder, he has also won a leading place in the esteem of Bronx citi- zenship for his progressive interest in all civic and benevolent matters.
Jsoeph Perlbinder, a son of Benjamin Perlbinder who is now retired from active business, and of Lena Perlbinder, who is deceased, was born March 31, 1886, in Austria, where he attended the schools, and coming to the United States in 1899, when he was thirteen years old, he attended Night School No. 160, in New York. Mr. Perlbinder first estab- lished himself in the real estate business in 1903, and coming to The Bronx section in 1915, he began to build that series of apartments that are a credit to his constructive plans as a contractor. Mr. Per1- binder established himself in his present offices in 1924. He is a member of The Bronx
Board of
Trade; Bronx Fellowship Club; Star Democratic Club, and several other organizations. He is a mem- ber of Khal Adath Yeshurun Congregation.
Joseph Perlbinder married, January 14, 1908, in New York City, Mollie Jawitz, daughter of Ben- jamin and Esther Jawitz. Their children are: 1. Lillian, born February 22, 1910. 2. Augusta, born May 2, 1912. 3. Julius, born June 23, 1914.
SOL GALANTER-Coming to America from far Bessarabia, Sol Galanter has so benefited himself from the advantages of the new land and great melt- ing pot to establish himself in a highly successful real estate business known as the Gelfar Realty Cor- poration in The Bronx, of which his son, Herman Galanter, is president. Previous to his entrance in the real estate field, Sol Galanter conducted an ice and coal business in Bayonne, New Jersey.
Sol Galanter was born in Wereheshena, Bessarabia, March 10, 1871, the son of Isaac and Ida (Apple- baum) Galanter. He received his early education in his native land under the tutelage of private teach- ers. He began work with his father when he was very young and continued this until he was twenty- one when he entered the military service of his coun- try and remained here for four years. This term of military service completed, he returned and worked for his father for two more years, at which period he decided to throw in his fortunes with the new land and to come to America. He settled first in Bayonne: New Jersey, where he engaged in the coal and ice business. Starting with very meagre beginnings, as were demanded by his limited capital, he worked up to a highly successful business. In 1922, however, he decided to give up this business and enter the real estate field. With this in view he sold his business in Bayonne and moved to The Bronx where he now does business under the firm name of the Gelfar Realty Corporation, of which his son, Herman Galanter is president. Mr. Galanter is Democratic in his polit- ical affiliations and a member of the Star Demo- cratic Club of The Bronx?
Sol Galanter married, in August, 1895, in Werehe- shena, Bessarabia, Sarah Pait, daughter of Harry and Beatrice (Moses) Pait. They are the parents of six children, four daughters and two sons: 1. Jennie, born August 12, 1896; now Mrs. Andrew Johnson and mother of Margaret and Andrew, Jr. 2. Betty, born June 5, 1898, now Mrs. Eli Shotkin, and mother of Harold and Wane Shotkin. 3. Harry, born August 10, 1900. 4. Mollie, born September 15, 1902, now Mrs. Herman Bash, and mother of Harold Bash. 5. Herman, born September 13, 1904. 6. Beatrice, born October 4, 1914.
PAUL SILVESTRI-One of the outstanding financiers of The Bronx, whose vision, tempered by sound judgment, has gone far toward promoting in- dustrial activity and in particular has been of bene- fit to his fellow Italians in the matter of investment, is Paul Silvestri, secretary of the Naples Holding Com- pany and director of the Italian Discount and Trust Company. His residence and business activities are in The Bronx, New York City. He was born in the province of Salerno, Italy, March 19, 1884, son of
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Francisco and Marguerita Silvestri. His father died in 1920.
The son came to the United States at the age of thirteen, November 27, 1897, completing his educa- tion in the New York parochial schools. His busi- ness career has been confined to the company with which he is now associated, and he has done much to establish it on a sound footing and to build it up to its present state of prosperity. He is a director of The Bronx Board of Trade and of the Italian- American Business Men's Association. With all his responsibilities, he finds time for active membership in the Piatt Lodge, No. 194, Free and Accepted Ma- sons, and in other phases of community life.
In New York City on March 3, 1907, Paul Sil- vestri married Amelia Lizzi, daughter of Pasquale and Clementina Lizzi. Children: 1. Rose, born Jan- uary 16, 1908. 2. Francisco, born December 31, 1910.
NAT ALLAN FINK-As president of a whole- sale and retail lumber business which he himself es- tablished, and builder and seller of apartment houses, Nat Allan Fink has attained extensive business holdings throughout Greater New York while he is still only twenty-five years of age. The Fink Lum- ber Company yards cover an acre of ground and have grown steadily since the business was estab- lished. The son of a Russian who came to America at the age of twelve, Mr. Fink, a college man, at- tests the fine business acumen of the Slavic races and what America, the melting pot, gains by their immigration.
Nat Allan Fink was born in New York City, May 17, 1901, the son of Louis and Clara Fink. Louis Fink, a native of St. Petersburg, came to Ameri- ca when he was twelve years old and after a series of wanderings over New York State, settled down in The Bronx. He still lives in this community and is an apartment house builder. Nat Allan Fink was educated in the public and high schools of The Bronx and then completed his education in Columbia Uni- versity in 1918. After leaving college he went at once into business with his father. The Fink Lum- ber Company of which the young man is president, was established in 1919. His major interest, how- ever, is in the building and later the sale of apart- ment houses.
Mr. Fink holds membership in Carlisle Lodge, No. 467, Knights of Pythias, and is a member of The Bronx Board of Trade.
ANTHONY JOHN SCHNEIDER-For more than fifty years a resident of The Bronx, New York City, long a prosperous business man, and now living in retirement, Anthony John Schneider has proved himself a constructive force in the upbuilding of the community. He is a member of that exclusive organization, "Old Timers," open only to those who have lived in The Bronx for half a century.
Anthony John Schneider was born April 20, 1857, in the neighborhood of the corner of Twenty-third Street and Second Avenue, the heart of the old Ger- man section, son of Anton and Annie Elizabeth (Bentz) Schneider. The father, born in Baden Ba- den, Germany, September 8, 1821, came to the United
States in the early forties, and died in The Bronx, August 3, 1877, after a successful career as head of his own business. The mother, born in Katzenheim, Germany, October 9, 1829, died August 1, 1879.
The family moved to The Bronx, in the old Mel- rose section, in 1867, when the son was ten years old, their home standing where the Dollar Savings Bank Building stands today at the corner of One Hundred and Forty-seventh Street and Third Ave- nue.
Mr. Schneider attended the Melrose Public School and later, that on College Avenue and One Hundred and Forty-fifth Street, under Jonathan Hyatt, prin- cipal, where he finished his education. At the age of fifteen he began work in the employ of Robert Dorn, optical dealer, on Nassau Street, near John Street, remaining there from 1872 until 1877. His father's death then necessitated his taking over the business established and successfully operated by that able business man, who had purchased the property in 1867 for seven thousand dollars. The son continued the business at the corner originally occupied until 1893, when he sold the property for $20,000. In 1898 Mr. Schneider bought out Fred Johnson, at One Hundred and Forty-third Street and Third Avenue, where he remained for ten years, then mov- ing to property acquired from a Mr. Cox on East Tremont Avenue and Third Avenue, where he re- mained until 1911. Mr. Schneider then retired from business and has not resumed activities, although a remarkably well-preserved and alert man. He is much interested in the meetings of the "Old Timers," of which he is a member.
ADOLPH ANCOWITZ, a sheet metal worker by trade and a real estate dealer by profession, is one of the substantial citizens of his community, The Bronx. He was born November 16, 1874, in Kolomea, Austria, and is the son of Abraham and Hannah (Busch) Ancowitz, both of whom, were born in Austria. Abraham Ancowitz, the father, was one of the most prominent sheet metal workers in the town- ship of Kolomea.
His son, Adolph Ancowitz, received his education in the public schools of the community in which he was born. He received his first contact with the world of commerce in the sheet metal business with his father, in which work he remained until he was twenty-seven years of age when he voyaged across the Atlantic to America, landing in New York in the year 1901. He settled first on the lower east side of Manhattan Island, where he followed his trade as a sheet metal worker in and around the environs of New York City. He was an indefatigable worker, however, and a man who carefully laid by all the earnings he could spare from the cost of his frugal living, so that he was soon enabled to branch out into bigger and broader fields of enter-
prise. When the World War was declared, he watched with interest the activities of both sides, but when America took part in the terrible conflict, Mr. Ancowitz at once offered his services as a part of that vast army of workers who kept our troops so well supplied with the munitions of war. He was for a while in the Jersey City plant of Joseph Ringling Sons, manufacturers of munition boxes and
aulong JuSchneiden
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Жевамнами,
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other war materials. He was later called into service and assigned to work at his sheet metal trade in the building and upkeep of various camps throughout the States along the Atlantic seaboard.
During all the long years Mr. Ancowitz had been working at his trade he had been saving carefully until the day finally dawned when he could follow the profession closest to his heart: real estate. Bit by bit and now and then, he bought small parcels of land here and there, selling occasionally, buying elsewhere again, until finally he was the owner of a sufficient number of square feet of New York City real estate to give over his metal work entirely and open up a small real estate office of his own. This he accordingly did, and, later, taking his sons David and Jacob into the business with him, he has suc- ceeded in building a decidedly lucrative enterprise. It was in the year 1918 that he first went into this work with the serious intent of giving it all of his time, and his office was then located at No. 1738 Wash- ington Avenue, almost directly across the street from the spacious offices he now occupies. His modest business grew and grew until it finally had to be reorganized, or rather, organized, as it were, and now it operates under the title of A. Ancowitz and Sons.
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