Friday, February 16, 2007

Irwin Dubrow

Among the articles about Dubrow's I found in the New York Times database, I also found Irwin Dubrow's obituary. In the copy available to download, it looks like part of the header has been cut off. It reads "Irwin Dubrow, 39, Dead;" and the presence of the semicolon indicates more text, as do the stray black marks found underneath. But mostly it's just white space, so I don't know what the rest of the header read.

The obituary goes on to report his death, with no mention of how he died:

"Mr. Dubrow headed Dubrow's, which operated a cafeteria at 515 Seventh Avenue, near 39th street, and another on 35th street off Seventh Avenue. He also operated Alfie's a bar and grill at Third Avenue and 74th Street, and a restaurant on King's Highway in Brooklyn.

He was a director of the Karen Horney Clinic and a director of Affiliated Restaurateurs, Inc.

He leaves his wife, the former Ann Tuck, two daughters, Joanne and Barbara, a sister, Mrs. Helene Grossman, and his mother, Mrs. Fannie Dubrow Rubin.
"

(New York Times, October 6, 1970)

A little backstory: Irwin Dubrow, who was the grandson of Benjamin Dubrow, killed himself. I am guessing that that is what is in the rest of the headline, though I am not sure if it was intentionally blotted out. I know that Dubrow's was closed for a little while following his suicide, which is understandable since it was a family crisis, both personally and in terms of the business.

I did not, however, know that there was another cafeteria owned by the family in Manhattan, nor did I know how many different jobs Irwin was doing at once. Was the "other restaurant" on King's Highway actually Dubrow's? Or did the family own a different restaurant on King's Highway later on? And Karen Horney clinic? Does that mean he was a social worker on top of being a businessman? I know Joanne, his daughter, has chimed in on this blog at times, so perhaps she will add some of her thoughts. Also, Irwin left behind another brother, Leonard, who for unknown reasons is not mentioned in the obituary.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The restaurant, Alfie's, was owed by Irwin and his wife it was not part of the Dubrow's cafeteria. They opened it as a late night dinner alternative. They often went to the theater and found that there was no place to eat a full dinner after the show.

It was an upscale steak house. After Irwin's passing his wife ran the restaurant until it cloded.

Irwin's estate executors gave no interest in the cafeterias to his wife or surving children. Irwin's shares in the cafeteria were given to Irving Kaplan (his uncle), Paul Tobin and Leo Martin. Irwin willed 30% of his business interest to Loe Martin in his will which was changed the day of his death.