Donald
was born on VE day, marking the final defeat of the Nazis in Europe, an event
of such monumental significance to Jews that Irving and Ruth must have seen
this as a positive sign for the future.
The
family had moved from Newark to Rutherford and lived in a brick house just off
Park Avenue – the main thoroughfare – on a relatively quiet street, Gouverver –
closer to State Highway 3 than to the traffic circle that marked the center of
town near the railway station.
Rutherford
was one of those towns that clung to prohabitionary rules meaning it served no
alcohol. But it was progressive enough to give Ruth parking tickets, as were
reported to the local newspapers in those days.
Rutherford,
where Donald would later set up one of his first batch of retail stores, was
located near Wallington, Garfield and Lodi where my family resided at the time,
and near Passaic where I would live for a time while working for him at his new
warehouse of Kaplun Drive in Fairfield.
Although
geographically closer to St. Mary’s and Beth Israel hospitals in Passaic, Ruth
gave birth to Donald at the more distant Irvington General Hospital, a massive
relic of the 19 th century that sat on an imposing hill, later neglected and
torn down.
This
was located near where the Garden State Parkway would later intersect Route 78
when both were constructed more than a decade later. At the time, the main
highway was Route 22 which connected Newark, Elizabeth, Bayonne and Union with
the inner parts of the state.
Irving’s
successful career apparently allowed him to move over the next few years to
west to the Livingston and West Orange area, part of a massive exodus of Jews
from the inner city. His kids eventually attended local schools there, with all
three attending West Orange High School, graduating in the 1960s.
As
the middle child, Donald makes me think of that old rent-a-car commerical which
claimed number two had to ry harder.
It’s
hard to say for certain if Irving favored one son over the others and whether or
not he hoped for Barry to live up to all the potential he showed in childhood.
But Donald’s later success must have impressed Irving, partly because Donald
seemed not to have all those talents Barry ddi, and so Donald had to work
harder to get ahead – and for him to have gotten as far ahead of his two
brothers as he did must have come as a complete surprise.
Known
in his senior year of high school at “Don,” Donald was aparently involved with
a school group called Cowboy Consolidated (Cow-con), a booster club that
supported all the sports teams know as the West Orange Cowboys.
Unlike
Barry, who took up wrestling and swimming, and his other brother, Bruce, who
took up tennis, Donald does not appear to have been involved in sports while in
high school – unless you consider jewelry-making a sport.
Yet
as a member of Cow-Con, Donald and others were responsible for setting up the
annual bonfire, football pep ralleys and distributing the booster tags most
students from West Orange High were expected to wear. The group also held
poster parties where the members designed posters that would later be put up
around the halls of the school.
Donald
was also a member of the International Relations Club that took an annual trip
to the United Nations among other activities.
Donald’s
classmates at the time painted a whole different picture of him than the Donald
I encountered as his employee. To them, he was a gentleman with a kind heart.
And perhaps this was accurate the the Donald I met felt compelled to put up a
front, scared of being to close to those who worked for him. Indeed, even his
relationship later with Stan seemed full of controdictions, a sincere effort to
share wealth and success but still maintain distance – something that Stan (and
I at the time) clearly misread.
While
Donald may have come to high school as a geek – and somewhat freewheeling – he
didn’t leave school that way, graduating a changed man, more dignified in some
ways than Barry who had preceded him.
For
those of us looking back at Donald’s frequent exclamations of “Where’s Susan,”
who he meant remains a mystery – although most of his classmates likely knew at
the time. He could have meant any number of Susans that shared clubs and
classes he attended, although I’d like to think he meant one of the particularly
popular cheerleaders.
While
Donald like Barry got involved in community organizations, Donald seemed to
focus more on his Jewish heritage and in helping Jewish immigrants. This may
have been his motivation for getting involved in Valley Settlement House, a
non-profit service organization that helped people in the four Orange towns, as
well as Newark, Maplewood and Irvington. Although the immigrants the
organization has well elped changed over the years since, many of those helped
at the time where Jewish immigrants making their way to the United States from
Eastern Europe.
Donald
also got involved with the Young Men’s Hebrew Associatin located at the time on
Chancellor Avenue in Newark – which was then making plans for its move to
Northfield Avenue in West Orange. He most likely got involved with the centers
first Israel Exhibtion and Trade Fair held there in 1963.
The
Y’s original mission was to help new Jewish immigrants assemulate in urban
areas like Newark, Jersey City and Bayonne. But after World War II as Jews
began to move out of the cities, the Y’s role changed and became a key element
in helping Jews move from the cities to the suburbs with the goal to keep Jews
enaged with the Jewish community.
This
not to say kids who belonged to the Y didn’t have fun, enjoying a variety of
activities as well as trips to museums in New York City or even to the Naval
base in Bayonne or the Ford Plant in Mahwah. This last is somewhat ironic since
Donald’s son, Josh, would later play a critical role in rescuing what became an
ailing car company.
How
and where Donald met his first wife, Gwenn Kuskin remains a mystery to me as
well. But their paths could have easily crossed during his trips to Bradley
Beach, a sea side resort within spitting distance of Deal where Gwenn lived at
the time.
While
the Kuskins lived in Deal, the primary Jewish community was in Bradley Beach,
and the Kuskins were very involved in their temple while living there.
Bradley
Beach, two towns south along the ocean from Deal, was one of the few towns that
allowed Jews in the post war years. Brooklyn Jews discovered Bradley Beach long
before they started buying up land in Deal in the 1970s. Magen David
Congregation opened in the summer of 1944 after which Jewish families began
renting bungalos in Bradley Beach the way my family did at the time in Seaside
and Point Pleasant.
While
it is too much to hope that Donald and Gwenn became high school sweetheart or
had a summer romance, they ironically must have passed each other during those
years.
Although
Donald was a history buff in high school, he apparently had less lofty goals
than his brother, Barry, and attended Rutgers to major in Finance, opening
Cosmetics Plus shortly after graduation.
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