Growing Up

Four score and seven years ago, Herb was born in Manhattan. His family moved often, and he grew up in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. By 1938, he was living with his mother and sister in a Lower East Side housing project called Knickerbocker Village; his upstairs neighbors were Ethel and Julius Rosenberg.

He graduated from Morris High School in 1931 and went to Brooklyn College at night. After college, he graduated from Fordham Law School, but the Depression intervened, and he took any job he could get until the start of the war.

Herbert Cantor, 87, of Levittown, New York, died on September 21, 2000, following a brief illness. A good, kind man, smart and funny, he was much loved by Millie, his wife of 54 years, children Phil, Mady, and Danny, children-in-law Carrie, Arthur, and Laura, and grandchildren Max, Nate, Tess, Eli, Ethan, and Alice.

A World War II veteran and lifelong Democrat, he owned Valley Stream Auto Parts for 30 years, and was a member of the Israel Cantor Family Society which was founded at his birth.  A passionate follower of the events of the day and a partisan of fairness and decency throughout his life, he leaves a legacy of devotion to family and friends, of generosity without strings, and a marvelous sense of humor. He will be missed.

Obituaries by:

• Dan Cantor
• Mady Cantor
• Steve Cotler
• Jean Nordhaus
• Carrie Cantor
• Katie Thomas in Newsday