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Obituaries

Norma Cantor Wachtel 1915-2005

Norma Cantor Wachtel

March 30, 1915 – December 13, 2005

Norma Wachtel’s autobiography as transcribed by her son, Ken Wachtel

At this stage in my life I am being called upon to relate the “story of my life.” I approach this project with an ambivalence of feelings. I want my children to know that I, as well as they, are products of 4,000 years of history. But, memories can bring many sadnesses. However, facts must be related or we wonder “why?” at some future date, didn’t I ask my mother that? Therefore, for history’s sake, for the sake of my children, and for myself, I will attempt to place myself in time.

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Member News

The Eagle has Landed

Nathaniel D. Cantor, 18, of Montclair, NJ, received his Eagle Badge from the Boy Scouts of America. Nate’s Eagle project was organizing and overseeing the spray painting of warnings on sewer grates against the dumping of toxic wastes. His project was done at the behest of the Montclair Environmental Affairs Coordinator. Nate attends Washington University in St. Louis.

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Member News

Max Liebersohn attains the rank of Eagle Scout

Max C. Liebersohn, 18, of Philadelphia, became an Eagle Scout, the highest rank in the Boy Scouts of America. Max’s Eagle project took place on September 14, 2004. He oversaw the cleaning of a local playground, including such activities as spreading woodchips and installing a new layer of sand in the sandbox. Max remains active with his troop, acting now as an Assistant Scoutmaster. Max attends Goucher College in Baltimore.

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Member News

Ted Nordhaus in New York Times

The New York Times has an article on Ted Nordhaus (Israel Aaron Cantor>Solomon Cantor>Minna Cantor Friedberg>Jeanne Nordhaus>Ted Nordhaus) about the paper he co-authored entitled “The Death of Environmentalism”

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/06/national/06enviro.html

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Member News

Dan Cantor, Populism’s Future

Dan Cantor, big time player in the New York politics scene, is profiled in today’s issue of the paper of record.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/12/nyregion/public-lives-third-party-organizer-works-for-populism-s-future.html

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Anniversaries

90th Anniversary ICFS Reunion!

The 90th Anniversary of the Israel Cantor Family Society was held at Kutsher’s Country Club, in Monticello, New York on June 27 to June 29, 2003.
Over eighty family members attended from all over the United States. There were relatives who have newly joined the Society, including Boris, Mikhail, and Sophia, all who have immigrated from Belarussia. Their presence reminds us all of Israel Cantor’s momentous journey almost a century ago.

There was a softball game (we won), a volleyball game (we won, again), a living family tree, letters of congratulations from President George W. Bush and Governor George Pataki, bad jokes at the nightclub, watered-down drinks, a giant group portrait, and huge quantities of mediocre food.

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Obituaries

Joseph Hornick 1918-2002

Joseph Hornick

April 22, 1918 – November 9, 2002

Joseph Hornick
Joseph Hornick

Eulogy by Sandy Hornick

I don’t really know how to eulogize my dad, and in talking to my brother and sister I’m aware of impressions and memories we share and others we hold uniquely. One way I remember dad uniquely is his teaching me that patience is a virtue, so I wanted to remember my father today by some of his traits, ones that would be high on anyone’s list of virtues: Perseverance, Family, Loyalty, Responsibility, and Faith.

My father had to persevere almost from the beginning of his life. Early on, his life was threatened by a severe case of scarlet fever, in an era before antibiotics. Yet he found the strength to survive. In the hard times of his youth, he had to help with the candy store or with his dad’s super’s responsibilities.

I don’t want to suggest dad was the perfect child. In one of the stories that for some strange reason we didn’t hear until we were adults, dad was confronted with an unwanted glass of milk that he was obligated to drink. This problem he solved brilliantly by pouring the milk in the drawer with my grandmother’s starched curtains.

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Member News

Dan Cantor on the NY Times Op-Ed page

Dan Cantor, son of Herb Cantor and great-grandson of Israel Cantor, has an op-ed in the New York Times today arguing in favor of raising taxes in order to pay for much needed public services.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/27/opinion/why-not-raise-taxes.html

Dan is the executive director of the Working Families party of New York.

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Member News

Dan Cantor in New York Magazine

Dan Cantor is profiled in this month’s New York Magazine.

http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/politics/columns/citypolitic/5734/

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Obituaries

Herb Cantor: A Biography

Growing Up

A young Herb

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.