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GRANDPA LEO


I realize, after speaking with my daughter by phone last night, that my two grandfathers are separated by only one letter!  Leo and Leon (about whom I have already written in a previous blog post)!  Yet, in background and life experiences, they are probably worlds apart.  One I didn't know at all and the other I knew for only four years.  Yet the stories about Leo are numerous and approach legend.  Was he an icon, respected and looked up to by his peers...or was he a scoundrel?  Probably a little bit of both I would say.

LEO MAYER
Through the wonders of the internet, I have discovered much about my grandfather.  However, if you were to google his name, you would come up with the Argentinian tennis star, Leonardo Mayer, who I just happened to see at this year's US Open!

Grandpa Leo

 Leo was born in Cincinnati, Ohio on Feb.21, 1884 in the Betts Street Hospital.  He was delivered by Dr. H.W. Dunham.   His father, Morris Mayer was from Germany and his mother, Fannie Phillips, like him, was also born in Cincinnati to a father from France (Alsace-Lorraine) and her mother from Germany.  He joined his sister, Millie, who was three years his senior. Cincinnati was populated by many German Jews.  It was not uncommon to see newspapers in German in that city during those times.  For reasons unknown to me, the family pulled up their roots in the midwest and moved to New York City where they settled in Yorkville on the upper east side at 231 E. 87th St.

Leo's birth record

I will discuss his parents in a future post.  I never heard much about sister, Millie, my Grandaunt, but, in going back, have discovered some information on her.  It appears that, when the family was living back in Ohio, they had a young boarder by the name of Robert Golden, a filmmaker and photographer, who was born in Russia.  Robert was five years older than Millie, so it is not surprising that a romance was sparked between them.  They eventually married and had a daughter, Edythe.  In 1920, Millie and Robert divorced when Edith was 17.   Millie never re-married but Robert did very shortly after, to a woman by the name of Florence Hogan, 13 years younger than him, and moved to Brookfield, Connecticut.   Robert died in 1943 at age 67 in Poughkeepsie, NY.   Young Edythe, in her turn, married Robert C. Coleson.  Unfortunately and sadly, she died at the young age of 24 in 1928, leaving Millie alone.  I have no information on how she died or from what.   Only my dad would have known about his cousin but he never spoke of it.  So, that branch of the Mayer family essentially died off.

Back to Leo!  I'm finding it difficult to write about a man I didn't know but for four years of my life.  But I know much ABOUT him... so here goes.  He was a very distinguished looking gentleman, always driving stylish cars and sporting pince-nez, and, essentially, living the good life.  He was a bit of an entrepreneur, at one time owning the Wolff Optical Company.  By profession, he was an optometrist having trained with Dr. George Olsen.  He was a joiner, a member of numerous professional, community, masonic, and governmental organizations that are too numerous to mention.  He was a proud Rotarian, Mason, Inspector of the Professions for the New York State Department of Education, and probably, his highest achievement, the Presidency of the American Optometric Association from 1927-28 which required that he travel far and wide across the entire country.

 I don't know the details but my dad once told me that he had bought a ranch in Colorado during his travels and I remember seeing a photo of him wearing a Native American head dress, standing next to the Chief with the tribe lined up behind them.  He enjoyed horseback riding, smoking his cigars, and driving fast.  He knew every bump in the road in Northern Westchester and, when we were in the back of his convertible, he'd gun the car so our tummies would thrill as though we were on a roller coaster!

From his travels out west...the owner wrote him a message on the right in Chinese.  I'd be happy to know what it says!

Enjoying horseback riding

I have numerous certificates, letters from the politically powerful, and photos and menus of testimonial dinners given in his honor.  Below is a Guest of Honor list from one such testimonial dinner in 1927.  The biggest dinner was at the famous Tavern on the Green in Central Park with over 300 in attendance in the 1940's.   He seemed to know them all, the politicos, bureaucrats, and judges.

  One particular document I came across was a certificate of accomplishment he was awarded at the age of 35 in 1919, for his service during World War I on the New York City Draft Board.  It must have been an awesome responsibility, deciding which young men were to be sent "over there" and, perhaps, never return.

 He had a sense of giving back to the community and was active in fund-raising for various groups like the United Jewish Appeal during WWII.  I know for a fact that he gave his salary away from being New York State Inspector of Optometry to optometry schools in Rochester and Columbia University.

His badge of honor...

If there was anything he did in his lifetime that had a lasting effect, I can proudly say he was the principal motivator in having New York pass a law that requires an eye test before you get a driver's license!  Below is a photo from the front page of the Buffalo Times showing him introducing the law to officials.

Grandpa pointing to the Snellen Chart...a serious bunch!

In the 1920's, my grandparents lived in the Bronx on Beck St. with their three children including young Leroy who died at age 7 in 1924...a sad home.
Later on he and my grandmother lived in Mt. Vernon on N.Fulton Ave. along with my great-grandmother Sarah, spending time in the summers at their lakeside home in Peekskill which appears in a previous post.

The Mayer family's Beck St. house

N. Fulton Ave. house in Mt. Vernon

I had mentioned the word "scoundrel" above and I have previous alluded to the fact that he had extra-marital dalliances and a wandering eye.  Perhaps this came after his young son, Leroy died, or, perhaps, as we unfortunately see more and more today, he had a weak moral compass.  I have also previous written that my dad and Leo were not particularly close and I think this lack of relationship impacted greatly and negatively on my father's life.  I  am not here to judge him or besmirch him but to relate what I've heard.  I had one personal experience that I'll relate that occurred when I was a Sophomore in college.  I was "employed" by the Admissions Department to show potential incoming students the beautiful campus along with their parents.  One Spring morning, as I showed around the Cross family with their son, Stanley, Mrs. Cross lingered behind as her husband and son walked on ahead.  As we were about to enter the chapel, she pulled me aside and asked me if I was any relation to Leo Mayer and if he was still alive.  Answering in the positive that he was my grandfather but had passed away years before, I learned that, as a young woman, she was his secretary many years ago and, from my father, that she was "very close" to him.  What that meant, in my young naivete, I had no idea nor do I wish, today, to surmise its meaning.

He spent the last months of his life suffering from prostate cancer, living out his last days with my grandmother, in the Hotel Brewster on W. 86th St. overlooking Central Park and succumbed to his disease at the Harkness Pavilion at Columbia Medical School at age 63.

The view from the Hotel Brewster

 His funeral was attended by many friends, acquaintances and associates, people he had helped over the years.  There is probably so much more I could write about Leo but I'll end here.

Grandpa and "Big Nana"

NEXT: GRANDPA LEO'S FAMILY