KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
between Forty-first and Forty-second streets in Manhattan. I always considered myself a working man, and I felt I had no right to reject a job. I went there for an interview, and they too hired me immediately. I became the business manager, doing the buying, controlling the provisions, processing the payroll, and so forth. I did some innovative work for them. For instance, I established a credit card system for their clientele. Many of the customers were mining engineers who worked for two weeks, then came back to New York and hung around for two weeks, not doing much except eating and drinking in our restaurant. They were big customers, but they sometimes got so drunk that their signatures were illegible. I came up with the idea of creating an identification card for each of them, with their name and a number on it. They were always able to remember their number when the waitress asked for it, no matter how drunk they were, so we always knew whom to charge. I also invested in a few small houses in Brooklyn. The attorney who handled the closings had a sister who owned an employment agency; she sent me to interview for a job as a purchasing agent at Templet Industries, a large metal stamping company on Atkins Avenue in Brooklyn, practically walking distance from my house. They offered me a better salary and I took the job. Elizabeth Gabrielle, our daughter, was born at about this time, on October 19, 1961. She was named after my younger sister, Es- ther. Her Hebrew middle name is Chava, after my older sister. Ga- brielle was after Ruthie’s uncle, Gabriel (Gabby), who died not long before her birth. I was working at Templet and owned or co-owned five buildings: two four-family houses, one six-family house, an eleven-family house in partnership with my brother-in-law, Jack Daniels, and an eight-family house in partnership with my uncle, Jack Golub. After work, I drove to the buildings and personally managed their main- tenance. I handled the paperwork, collected the rents, and hired repairmen. I was fastidious about my properties and constantly im- proved and upgraded them. I made sure that the buildings were properly painted and that the heating always worked. I installed
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