INTERVIEW WITH
MARTY HOFFMAN, II
This is Thursday, January 20, 2005, and I’m sitting at my kitchen table along with my wife Geraldine and my daughter Sherry Friedman. My address is 490 N. Columbia Avenue in Bexley, Ohio, where I reside for six months and six months in Florida. I am 73 years old. I was born in 1931 at 598 E. Mound Street, Columbus, Ohio, the youngest of 12 children, six boys and six girls. My parents’ names were Joe and Esther Hoffman. My father was born in Russia and came to this country at the age of 15 without his parents. My mother was born in Ludlow, Kentucky. My parents were married on August 6, 1911.
I have, I am the youngest of 12 children. The oldest brother was my brother Herman who was born in 1912. My sister Sarah, who has passed away, was born in 1914. My other sister Lena was born in 1925 and has passed away. My brother Philip was born in 1916 is still here. My other brother Max born in 1919, Max has passed away. The next sister is Molly born in 1920. Molly has passed away. The next brother is my brother Meyer born in 1922. Meyer has passed away. My other brother was born in 1923 and was born right after childbirth, Isadore. The next sister is Leah who was born in 1925. Leah has passed away. The next sister is Mildred was born in 1927. Mildred is still here. The next sister is Annette, born in 1928. Annette is still here. And me, I was born in 1931 and I’m still here.
Voice: Thank goodness.
The only siblings I have are my brother Philip and my sisters Mildred and Annette. My first wife, Rita Katz, was a Holocaust survivor. We met at the Jewish Center Bowling Alley and were married two years later on April 29, 1957. We have five children, Bradley, Eric, Sherry, Debbie and Seth. They’re all married with children. My wife and I were married 32 years when she died at the age of 52 of breast cancer. Five years later I met Geraldine Schottenstein, also widowed from H. Jerome Schottenstein. We were married on March 23, 1993. We will be married 12 years this March. She has four children, Jay, Anne, Suzie and Lorrie.
I will be speaking about my dear friend Harry Greenblott who was buried yesterday, January 19th, at the Agudas Achim Synagogue. I spoke on the bima about my dear friend Harry and I was asked to tell you about my relationship and my memories of Harry Greenblott again.
I want to offer my condolences to the family. I remember all of the children and family members personally. My brother Max and Shirley Hoffman made the connection between Harry and his first wife Harriet. They then became engaged and were married. My brothers Max, Meyer and all of my siblings were personal friends of Harry Green- blott, his mother and father and his sisters Jean Passoff and Ruthie Salander. I remember when someone mentioned, before I spoke about Harry’s relationship with his family, his
INTERVIEW WITH MARTY HOFFMAN, II
mother and father and his sisters, the story that they didn’t mention was the story about when Harry’s father was in St. Anthony’s Hospital and Harry’s father was lying there near death. Harry asked Max to come with him and visit his father. On the way, Harry picked up a pint of Jack Daniels bourbon and he says to Max, "I’m going to give this to my father." And Max said, "Why, why are you doing this?" "It will help him. Maybe it will give him another week." His father drank a half a pint of it in bed and guess what? It gave him another week.
I remember the day of the funeral when he was buried from Snider’s Funeral Home on East Main Street. He was buried at the old cemetery at Beth Jacob on Alum Creek, but today I will tell you that there was nobody like Harry Greenblott. He was the most friendly, kind, compassionate, charitable person I ever met. As Rabbi Dick had mentioned before, he belonged to three synagogues, Temple Israel, Beth Jacob and today we’re here at Agudas Achim. I can remember a story that when we first built the College Avenue synagogue, Beth Jacob Synagogue, and Lou Levin, myself and Rabbi Stavsky came to Harry at his business and asked him for financial help. He immediately said, "How much do you want?" I started telling what I wanted him to give and Rabbi Stavsky interrupted and said, "Let Harry be the one to make a decision." He immediately took a check out and wrote a check for $18,000. This is the kind of person Harry was, my dear friend and our dear friend is. That is why I’m standing here today. Thank you very much.
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Transcribed by Honey Abramson
Proofread by Toby Brief
Corrected by Marty Hoffman
