Sandy Stern

 

Selma Stern Weissman

 

A story from Neilan:

Philip, Chaim Pesach Stern was born in 1856. 

When he moved to the U.S. he became an owner of apartment houses.  Unfortunately, he was too compassionate and whenever acquaintances from the old country arrived, he would give them an apartment to live in.  And, oftentimes they couldn’t afford to pay rent.  So, he lost the buildings due to non-payment of taxes.

When he had to go to court, and discovered that his property was being taken away from him, he took off his jacket, threw it at the judge, and shouted, “Take this, you took everything else.”

He ended up being the Super in one of his buildings on Pulaski Street in Brooklyn.

Sandy, aka Selma told me that he had built a window to the back of the apartment for the family to climb out of in order to get into the Sukkah in the backyard to celebrate Sukkot.

Roughly 70 years later, thanks to a kind occupant, I was able to check it out.