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MY MEMORIAL DAY
By
Eric Glazer, Esq.
Published May 31, 2021
Today is the day we honor all of the amazing men and women who
fought and died for this country. There are not enough words to
thank them for their service, for fighting for independence, for
preserving democracy, stopping fascism, preventing the spread of
communism and attempting to quash terrorism. Every single one
of them gave the ultimate price for their country and today we
all honor them and deservedly so.
In today’s blog however, and without meaning any disrespect
whatsoever to this most important holiday, I want to honor those
who made my home, my building, my community an amazing place to
live. We all live with heroes in our very own community and
today let’s remember them fondly.
I lived in a 60 apartment building in Brooklyn growing up. The
super intendent Burt and Jane were heroes. I remember Burt
being able to fix anything that was broken at the drop of a
dime. His wife Jane was everybody’s babysitter and dressed up
in the craziest Halloween costumes every year for the children.
The porter in my building, Andy Jones, kept the place spotless
and ALWAYS had a smile on his face, even when he was taking the
garbage to the curb when it was zero degrees.
Harold Goldberg lived on the 6th floor and drove my
mom and I to work, with his wife for years. Never took a dollar
for it. Helen Novick, on the same floor, was in my home all the
time and was my mom’s friend. While I remember her fondly, I
also remember her smoking all the time, even in my tiny
apartment. At the time, it wasn’t taboo.
My second grade teacher, Mrs. Licht, actually lived next door.
If I was messing around in school, she didn’t need to give a
note to my parents, she simply came in for a cup of coffee.
Jack Stern was two doors down and was a polygraph examiner and
allowed me to do a college internship with him. Charlotte and
Ben were my friend Harry’s parents. Ben was a concentration
camp survivor and I remember the numbers on his arm vividly.
His train heading to Auschwitz actually derailed, allowing him
to escape. He ran a store in the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan the
rest of his life and was a hard worker.
Harry Haber and his wife Ida were simply gems.
Harry was the President of the Board for years.
His most important goal…..to make sure the kids have enough
playground space. One day, Harry’s grandchild Karen was killed
at 17 in an auto accident. It was one of the worst days of my
life. Harry loved me like I was his own and on the day of that
terrible funeral, I will never forget that when hugging me, he
simply couldn’t let me go.
I was so lucky. I could go on and on about the people in my
building who were always looking out for me.
Always teaching me. Always leading by example. It was a blue
collar kind of place packed with people who definitely shared a
connection. Everyone knew everyone. So today, in addition to
those who lived and died for our country, I am also honoring
those who made my home an amazing place to grow up and always
had my back.
So, who were your heroes?
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About
HOA & Condo Blog
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Eric Glazer graduated
from the University of Miami School of Law in 1992 after
receiving a B.A. from NYU. He has practiced community
association law for three decades and is the owner of
Glazer and Sachs, P.A. a five attorney law firm with
offices in Fort Lauderdale and Orlando.
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Eric is Board Certified by The Florida Bar in
Condominium and Planned Development Law.
Since 2009, Eric has been the host of Condo Craze
and HOAs, a weekly one hour radio show that airs at 11:00 a.m.
each Sunday on 850 WFTL.
See:
www.condocrazeandhoas.com.
Eric is the first attorney in the State of
Florida that designed a course that certifies condominium and
HOA residents as eligible to serve on a Board of Directors and
has now certified more than 20,000 Floridians all across the
state. He is certified as a Circuit Court Mediator by The
Florida Supreme Court and has mediated dozens of disputes
between associations and unit owners. Eric also devotes
significant time to advancing legislation in the best interest
of Florida community association members.
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