David & Steven Leo
For Family
A Bit of the Ann and Ed Leo Branch of the Bashner Kinsman Tree
Recollections by David Ira and Stephen (Steve) Leo
Edwin Leo was born August 12, 1912, the second son and second child to Samuel and Sarah (Bashner) Leo. We don’t know much of Dad’s youth other than he was likely a pretty good student, an excellent camper having attended Camp Roosevelt in Monticello, NY where he won Camper of the Year Award in 1927. He was a good and caring brother to his big brother Sidney Leo, his sister Esther, and later to his younger brother Stanley. Dad excelled at swimming and handball. Other than that, and in the Leo tradition, he appears to have been slow afoot. There was a story that when Dad was young he had reached third base in a baseball game. Apparently, as Dad told it, a person after him hit a double and Dad was almost thrown out at the plate.
Dad went to City College of New York at night for a time; we think about a year and a half. At about the age of 17 he had planned to travel cross country with a friend. When the friend decided not to go, Dad went anyway. We don’t know his specific plans at the time but we were told that his Mom, Grandma/Aunt Sarah, sewed 100 dollars into his coat, in case. As we understand it, he got to Washington, D.C. where he met a travelling button salesman. We wish we had more details but understand he travelled with him to Florida and across Florida to Texas. He started by carrying the salesman’s bags for meals and eventually worked his way up to a dollar a day. He obviously returned, we think back to D.C. with the salesman and eventually back to New York after some months.
The period between then and his marriage to Ann Kaplan of Trenton, New Jersey is lost. Ann was one of 6 children born to Max and Sophie Kaplan. Max Kaplan was the son of Chiam Charangansky (changed to Goldstein.) Chiam from Lithuania, was apparently married 4 times and Max was born in 1882 in Vilna, Lithuania and married our maternal grandmother Sophia Gitlin in 1904 (Sophie was born 1879 in Russia,) but we think that part of Russia became Lithuania. They migrated to New Jersey at some time where Ann, our Mom, was born September 11, 1915. (We celebrated her birthday on the 18th but only recently found out it was actually the 11th.)
Back to our story. Edwin (also Edward, Eddie, do the next right thing Eddie, and variously Dad, Pop, and Daddy) followed in his Father’s footsteps in the dressmaker’s supplies and notions business. Grandpa Sam had started his business selling dressmaker’s supplies and notions from a pushcart in New York. Eventually they moved into a store on Third Avenue between 66th and 67th Street near their apartment at 340 East 66th Street. Not to get off on another tangent but what a beautiful 2 bedroom apartment, and it’s still there, where the Sam and Sarah Leo clan gathered fairly frequently to talk and eat and joke about Grandma’s matzah balls. Another story, but let’s say they were firm.
When Mom and Dad got married on June 22, 1936, Grandpa apparently helped his two eldest sons, Sidney and Edwin, open a shop of their own. The dressmaker’s supplies and notions store was at 46th Street and Third Avenue. After 20 years because of changes on Third Avenue they moved the store to East 44th Street and Second Avenue. After another 10 years they moved to East 27th Street on Lexington Avenue. Nevertheless, they remained partners always until Uncle Sidney’s death. Let us tell you briefly about that partnership. It was special.
Sid and Ed were as close as any brothers ever. They worked in the store from 7AM or so until 6PM daily, 6 days a week. They alternated openings and Saturdays but worked hard to support two families. When the business could no longer support two families, the brothers agreed that one would leave the store and get an outside job. Sid, the gregarious one, agreed to take a job as a salesman of fabric to the clothing industry. The stories of that I will leave to my cousins Jerry and Gary. However, the deal was that whatever Uncle Sid earned went into the partnership pot and everything the store earned went into the partnership pot. Each partner took from the pot half the pot. Never did either complain about the arrangement. Every day they spoke about how each of them did, what was sold, what the store sales were, and what was going on. Jerry and I worked in the store on Third Avenue with either our Dad or our Uncle and it was part of our education as it was for Steve and Gary. The only problem working in a fabric store was Steve and David are color blind. Dad and Uncle Sid regularly got pissed off when we would match up green zippers and thread with brown fabric. It looked fine to us. We will tell you the thread cabinet had a glorious display of irregularity. We each did that from the time we were perhaps 12 or so until later in our teenage years. As another aside, we all lived in the Bronx in the early day and David and Steve were raised with Jerry and Gary as part of that partnership. During WWII, Uncle Sid and Dad worked in a Defense Plant making war supplies while Aunt Pauline and Mom worked in the store. In the Bronx, Mom’s parents lived with us until our maternal grandfather died in 1943.
In 1947, we moved to a house Queens and about that time Uncle Sid and Aunt Pauline and Jerry and Gary moved to the “quad” in Queens in an apartment complex with many other Bashners as some of you heard at our 2008 Bashner Kinsmen retreat. Grandma Kaplan lived with us until her death in 1951. We remember our finished basement becoming a popular family meeting place despite a few holes in the wall from David and Steve’s bow and arrow target practice. Those knotty pine knots were really small and hard to hit.
Mom and Dad lived in the same house in Queens from December 1947 until they moved to Cranbury, New Jersey in 1984. They left their business in 1974 and Dad worked in several part time jobs in retail and Mom kept house and lived her life caring about her Bashner and Kaplan families, her children, cooking, and being a wonderful hostess to friends and family. In 1984 they moved to a 55+ community. Dad loved to play pinochle and swim and he did so until a year before his death. Mom continued her caring and sharing until her death in a car accident on August 12, 1994; Dad’s 82nd birthday. Dad lived alone for 366 days until his death on August 13, 1995. Even as we write this, we feel their loss and think of them daily, miss them, and cherish their memory and teachings by examples of how they lived their lives. We try and continue to live and teach by their examples. They loved the Kinsmen and would have, and may have, qvelled at our Reunion
They are survived by their eldest son David Ira Leo, born April 2, 1938. David worked for IBM for 30 years, retiring in 1994. His career in marketing, sales, and business reengineering consulting came about because of another Basher cousin, Arnold Cohen of Phyllis (Kleid) Cohen fame. Phyllis is the daughter of Leah (Bashner) Kleid, and granddaughter of Freda and Nathan Bashner. Arnold worked for IBM at the time, encouraged David to send a resume to IBM. Following his career at IBM, David went to work for PaineWebber (UBS) primarily as a broker productivity improvement consultant. After 7 years he left UBS and started his own business as a business coach to financial advisors. He and his ex-wife Flora Leo have 3 children:
• Perry Howard Leo, born December 1, 1959, is a Professor of Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics at the University of Minnesota. His wife Lisa Villalta is a Compliance Officer at Clark consulting. They have 2 children, Rachel Sofia, born October 17, 2003 and Samuel Phillip, born December 2, 2006. They live in Minneapolis, MN.
• Michael Jonathan Leo, born January 18, 1963, is responsible for marketing and sales in Atlanta for a local distributor. Michael and his wife Marta have a son Max born on February 23, 2009. They live in Atlanta, GA.
• Scott Evan Leo, born April 25, 1968, is a Partner at the law firm of Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP. He specializes in Municipal Finance Law. His wife is Stephanie. They have 3 children, Hannah Claire and Katherine Elizabeth (Kate), twins, born November 15, 1999 and Margaret Sara, born November 28, 2003. They live in Charlotte, NC.
David and his partner and wife of 24 years, Allison Dent live in New York City. David earned his BS at Drexel Institute of Technology in Philadelphia and his MBA at NYU. Allison is a graduate of Parsons School of Design. She has a studio in New York where she designs and develops women’s accessories as well as some unique gift items. (Photos on request and on www.onewomanwarrior.com.) David’s hobby is photography. Allison still plays ice hockey and ALWAYS seems to watch it on TV.
They are also survived by their son Stephen (Steve) Leo, born February 16, 1941. Steve worked in the men’s clothing business for over 45 years. He worked in the industry since early in his college years at CCNY, where he also occasionally even attended classes and graduated which is why he still believes in miracles. Steve owned his own business for a while until working for a number of firms eventually rising to CEO while living in LA for 5 years. Eventually he worked for and retired from Barney’s where he was the leading salesman in men’s clothing for the entire country. His wife Marsha was a career school teacher in both California and New York. In California she became secular Principal of an Orthodox Yeshiva. She was also a private tutor retiring in 2007. They have 2 children:
• Evan Todd Leo, born August 24, 1968, is a Partner at the law firm of Kellogg, Huber, Hansen, Todd, Evans & Figel, P.L.L.C. He specializes in Telecommunications Law with one of the world’s most noted firms in that field. His wife is Maite. They have 2 children, Matthieu, born March 24, 1998 and Chloe, born April 22, 2000.
• Sean Alexander Leo, born December 13, 1971, is an Audio/Video sales, implementation and training specialist. His wife is Danya. They have 2 children, Zachary, born April 3, 2001 and Jillian, born March 8, 2005. They live in Woodland Hills, CA.
Finally, their daughter, and our beloved sister, Nancy Helen Leo, born June 9, 1947, died too young on August 27, 2006. Nancy started her career after college at Cortland State University in Cortland, NY. She was originally a High School teacher and a skilled writer. She worked for several companies and as a contractor developing sales training material. In addition to keeping her house a home like Mom, she lived her life caring about her friends and family. Like Mom she cooked for crowds and was a wonderful hostess to friends and family. She was the best of us. She died as she lived, with strength and caring for others. She is sorely missed by her many friends and her family.
Nancy was married and divorced from Hank Watters. She is survived by her daughter Dana Sloane Watters born July 6, 1986. If you find any locks she owned, the combination was 7686. Nancy and Dana lived outside of Boston in Bedford, MA. Dana, a great student at Chapman University in Orange, CA graduated in 2010. She, like Nancy, has a strong social conscience, is a conservationist, and interns at Amnesty International for whom she volunteers. Dana worked in Cousin Evan’s law firm in D.C. Steve in many respects acts as a guardian and trustee and her Uncles are very proud of her as her Mom would be. Dana was recently accepted to Columbia Graduate School and will matriculate in August 2012.
