Harry Ranz

His daughter Beverly writes:

Harry was a cutter; he always knew how to get the most mileage out of a piece of cloth. His first store was a dry goods store. At one point he was in the real estate business. He originally bought the homes for his parents and several other members of the family. In later years he opened a number of shoe stores called "The Shoe Box": there were two in Brooklyn (one run by his son, Sidney), and several others on Long Island (primarily for the summer trade). One year there was too much summer merchandise left, and he shipped it to Miami and opened a winter store in an arcade near Flagler St.

His first job was with Western Electric doing piece work. He was fast and sometimes earned a Twenty Dollar gold piece; that was a lot of money in those days. He was fired from that job, because he could not work on Yom Kippur, and they found out he was Jewish, it made a terrible impression on him.

Harry actually retired in 1928 at the age of 38, selling the dry goods business which he had operated out of a store at 3035 Fulton Street in Brooklyn, NY. However, he did not sell the building itself. He then became involved in real estate - or he may have been involved in both at the same time, and realized he preferred real estate. He obtained a broker's license to avoid broker's fees. He bought a row of 8-10 houses - the original builder had gone bankrupt, and left them unfinished. Harry completed construction, and sold them. He owned a large number of apartment houses and other real estate throughout Brooklyn and Queens. He owned a four- family house at 324 Arlington Ave. on a lovely block around the corner from the store at Fulton St He also helped other family members buy their own homes.

He and his partner had options on properties. He exercised the options, but his partner did not pay his share, so the properties were dropped because taxes and bills were not paid. Harry could not handle the payments on his own. He was angry with his partner because if Harry paid the whole amount the man would still be his partner. So he walked away, and the properties were taken over for $7,800.00 that was owed in taxes. The properties were on Queens Blvd., which was a dirt road at that time.

Harry was also heavily invested in the stock market. He lost a lot of this money in 1929 and 1930. However, his main losses were in the apartment buildings because his tenants could not pay their rent during the depression. He sent Fay to collect rents - as a child I remember going with her. She hated to do this, as people were starving and rarely had the rent money. If they could not pay the rent, he could not pay the mortgage payment. It was a vicious cycle. Naturally the taxes due on the properties were then in default.

Throughout this period I never felt deprived in any way. There was always plenty of food on the table, which was not so in many homes. The house in Meadowmere (in which we spent Summers) was acquired in a swap with a piece of property he was unable to sell. In Meadowmere he used something like a bosun's chair that pulled up and down to paint the house. That house had beer steins all around on shelves near the ceiling in the living room. He left them there, when he sold or traded the house.

His bank was Citizen's Bank. The bank president's son was an attorney; he gave Harry leads of available property, and even lent him the money (on his good name) to buy property. He took great pride in the fact that he always had excellent credit! Years later Endicott Johnson was responsible for giving him a tremendous amount of credit. He was always known as a good risk. He always paid his bills except one. He had a chronic sore throat, and the specialist he went to told him to stop smoking. He was incensed as he never smoked in his life, and refused to pay the $10.00 fee.

When the crash occurred the man who bought the business in the Fulton Street Store went bankrupt. Harry still owned the building, and he changed it from dry goods to shoes, with the help of Endicott Johnson.

He had a soft spot for a bargain. Thus he had a huge stock of footwear of every sort in the 5th Ave. Store. During the blizzard of 1947, he was the only store able to supply the demand for boots, and rubbers. He had been buying them for years "in case." When overstocked merchandise was offered to him at a good price, he would hold up his forefinger meaning at $1.00 a pair he was a buyer. I can still see him doing that.

For many years he went to the Turkish Baths on Wednesdays, with friends who owned plumbing companies. He did business with them when he was involved in real estate. Sid's first shoe store at 261 Columbia Street in a rented building. Harry then bought the building at 239 Columbia Street because the landlord at 261 kept raising the rents. Paul saw the For Sale sign and told Harry about it and the next day he bought it. He built shelves, painted them green along with the ceiling (as I've indicated below, green was his favorite color).

He was enterprising and had tremendous perseverance, to pick himself up with a large family start over again, keep his sense of humor, and succeed again. Fay was always there to work with him and encourage him in good times and in bad. He was a true role model, and was highly respected by friends and family.

My father was a lovable, hard working man, with many interests. He did not have a formal education because he had to go to work at age 11 to help support his parents large family. But he was an avid reader, and owned many classic books. He read at least three newspapers a day. When I was young he read the New York Times, Herald Tribune, and the Daily News (giving the funnies to Russell and me). Later on, he read Newsday as well. He loved reading magazines, and his collection of national Geographic went back to 1918. I think he truly traveled the world by reading those books and magazines. He used to comment on all the progress that occurred in his lifetime.

He was one of the first people to own a TV. He loved music and theater. When he went to the theater to see musicals (which were his favorites) it had to be front row center, so he could hear. He enjoyed Radio City Music Hall as well.

I don't think he ever drove a car without singing behind the wheel. He would surely smile if he knew that I taught all his grandchildren, and our grandchildren, the wonderful "Gay Nineties" songs he sang to me. My oldest granddaughter Heather was amazed, when riding in the car with Scott's three children, to hear them sing the same songs I taught her.

Dad loved his boat. He enjoyed fishing from the boat, with a sandwich in one hand, and a fishing pole in the other. He didn't even care if he caught anything, he just liked the activity. That boat was something else. Rarely did we go out on it without being towed back by the Coast Guard. He had a group of cronies to repair it, not always successfully. When he first bought the boat, it was learn as you go, the same way he drove his first car; he bought with no idea how to drive.

He had a funny endearing habit of painting things green. If Mother mentioned that something needed painting, or he thought it did, if you turned around and looked again it was green. It still is a family joke, the house had green walls, outdoor furniture, trim, even the boat was green and white.

I remember from the time I was a small child, he was always renovating things, in his stores, and in various homes. I remember him having walls torn down and windows replaced to give a better view, and to make things brighter, and give a beautiful view. He loved porches and would sit on the one in the back on the lake or the one in the front of the house in Valley Stream, all wrapped up in cold weather in an imitation fur blanket that Sam Fingerhut had made for him.

I don't know how Mother was able to cope with all those renovations. She never knew when he would bring in a bunch of cronies to build and rebuild something. When he was having the wrap-around porch done in Valley Stream built, he dragged brick and stone in his car; of course he ruined the car. He had also had a large porch built on the house in East 33rd. St. This was a lovely huge brick deck, built before they were fashionable. He loved to modernize things. He simply could not understand why any one would collect antiques of any kind. I think it was progress he loved to see.

My Mother was his partner throughout their marriage. They were devoted to each other. He was a good son, loving Father, and Grandfather. Most of all he enjoyed his family around him. He loved to watch the cooking, and preparation involved. When the grandchildren were too noisy he just turned off his hearing aid.

He had a great sense of humor, and really loved silly jokes about the ethnic areas of Manhattan, and Brooklyn. He was famous for telling them to his children and grandchildren. My daughter, Madelynn remembers sitting on his lap listening to his stories. As he talked he would stretch the elastic on her socks, which frustrated her. I know she still remembers it. Paul remembers stories he told him how, as a very young boy delivering hot coffee to policemen in the kiosks on the Brooklyn Bridge, they would sometimes give him a penny.

On Sundays during the war, when gas was rationed, Dad would walk to Robbie's house, and pick up Lois and Jean taking them back on the trolley to Sunday dinners with the family. Sometimes he walked from Coney Island to Brighton Baths. He enjoyed the beach, and the shows; he enjoyed the Turkish baths, and often. He met his friends there on Wednesdays.

During the war he listened to the news in front of the radio every night, with a well-worn atlas, so that he could follow the progress of the allies. He stopped listening to the war reports after Russell was killed.

It was a great joy that he lived to hear that his great grandson David had been born. He was very ill (he died a month later on December 16, 1969), but he jumped out of bed to talk to Julie, who called him from the hospital, giving him the news that a new Ranz had been born.

He just met life with a smile, head on. Every once in a while he would see some poor child walking barefoot, for lack of shoes. Many times he took the child in, fitted him with shoes, and sent him on his way.

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David Malkin recalled Abraham's bookcase. Beverly writes: Oh how I loved that bookcase. It was dark wood, & filled to the brim with magical books. I guess we all got our love of books from Grandpa. My father loved books & had an extensive library for the times. I never wanted for books. They were right there in the book cases, I read & reread the favorites. Not too long ago I bought the complete works of Mark Twain to enjoy them again. I am really not sure how my father bought all those books during the lean years, but he did. He read until the day he died.