Stop that taxi! It was rolling down the hill with passengers inside and no driver.
Harry Leber / Laber / Leiber
According to his WWII draft card, Harry was born on March 27, 1905, in New York to Taube and Max Leber. He was their youngest child and only boy.
On the left is Harry with four of his sisters. His oldest sister, Minnie, was already married and living in Newark, New Jersey.
From the left are sisters Ray, Rose holding Harry, Goldie, and Hannah.
Harry was about 12 years old when his father died. He was the baby of the family and the only boy. Did he get into trouble in his neighborhood? It sounds like he had a rough bunch of friends.
From family stories we know he did some prize-fighting. Is that why his nose looked kind of flat? Maybe it got hit too often. There were also rumors of him having “connections” with unsavory characters including Abe Reles (Kid Twist) from Murder, Inc. when he was just a kid and a loan shark.
According to the 1920 Census, Harry was still living at home with his mother and sister Goldie (Gussie). However, once his mother remarried, he moved in with his sister, MInnie. He was more like a big brother to her daughter, May, than an Uncle. See the 1930 Census below.
Harry remained a bachelor and drove a taxi cab in NYC and Brooklyn.
I remember fondly all the taxi rides we took in his cab when I was little and lived in Brooklyn. I also remember how generous he was when he saw us. When he was ready to leave, he always pulled out a big roll of dollar bills and pealed one off to give to each one of us children.
I remember one specific ride very clearly. Uncle Harry was parked at the top of a big hill near our street in Brooklyn. He got the whole family into the cab by using the fold-down seats in the back. He then started to walk to the driver’s side, only the cab started rolling down the hill without him in it. I remember him chasing the cab and luckily he caught up to it and got it to stop. Whew! He were all very nervous and screaming for him to stop the cab.
Of all his sisters, Harry was the closest to Minnie. He lived with her in 1930, probably until my parents got married and moved in. After we moved out of Minnie’s apartment when I was 5, he moved back in and continued living there until he moved to FL.
According to the 1930’s census he was a chaffeur. It must have been hard on him when he lost his driver’s license due to a traffic violation in 1933.
Article from The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, NY, Wednesday, July 26, 1933, Page 28, downloaded from Newspapers.com on 10/18/2022.
He is listed as an Ice Cream Peddler on his 1940 draft card.
According to the darft card he was 5′ 2″ tall and weighed 210 pounds. He had a ruddy complextion with brown eyes and hair.
He liked to vacation in Florida as can be seen by the fun he was having in Miami Beach in 1940.
He liked to vacation in Florida as can be seen by the fun he was having in Miami Beach in 1940.
He served in the Army in WWII. He enlisted on July 23, 1942 and was released on August, 30, 1943.
Harry is shaking hands with his nephew, Jeffrey, at Jeffrey’s Bar MItzvah in 1960. Jeffrey is the grandson of Harry’s sister Ray.
In 1975, he attended his great-niece’s wedding in Long Island. Is is sesated at the table with other Leber relatives.
Standing: Wilton Zucker and his wife, HIlloh Streicher, Hy Pollay’s three children and Mollie Pollay, Hy’s wife
Seated: Merlie Streicher Winnick, Harry, Don SanMarco (Max Pollay’s business partner in the dude ranchm Don’a wife, Mally, Max Pollay, Hy Pollay
After we moved to NJ, he would pick up all of his sisters and bring them to visit. They were always there for all of our special occasions. He would even picked up my paternal grandmother and a family friend.
Gussie Abramowitz, Harry, Goldie, Ray, Rose, Hilloh, Helen (a family friend), circa 1962
In later years, he got closer to his sister, Ray. Once she moved to LI, she and her daughter, Millie, often invited Harry to come and visit.
Millie Pollay’s brother, Max, owned a single-engine plane and flew the family down to FL to help Harry look for a place to live there. He settled on a condo in Century Village in Del Ray Beach. He was very depressed about giving up his Brooklyn apartment and moving to FL. However, Millie tried to make his transition easier and took him grocery shopping and on other errands in FL. To her dismay, he let her pay for all of his groceries even though he was well off. After that, they mostly lost touch since Harry stopped accepting invitations to see his family that had helped him.
In 1973, Harry moved to Del Ray Beach, FL. He visited us in Teaneck, New Jersey, before he moved. He came to pay his respects at my father’s Shiva. I had wanted to ask him about some of my grandmother’s things but he was very depressed about giving up the Brooklyn apartment and I did not want to add to his misery so I did not question him.
In about 1984, we took our first trip to FL and made sure to stop to visit Uncle Harry so he could meet my children. Although he was delighted to see us, he was also embarrassed since his girlfriend had sent his teeth out to be cleaned and he was toothless for our visit! We still had a great time and he insisted on taking us to his favorite Jewish Deli for lunch.
Harry with May’s grandsons’ Matt and Brad, circa 1984
He always told Millie that he would not leave her any money in his will since her husband liked to gamble (he only did very occasionally but Harry did not take that into account). He told Hannah’s daughters (Millie and Mollie) the same thing. We knew nothing about those conversations. His nephew, Stephen, a lawyer, was the executor of his estate. My siblings and I were extremely touched when we found out that Uncle Harry left us each $5000 in his will.
Harry died in December of 1984. He was 79 years old. He is buried in Star of David Memorial Gardens in North Lauderdale, Broward County, Florida in the Star of David Section.
Sources:
- Family memories
- http://www.nydailynews.com/autos/street-smarts/new-york-classic-cabs-checker-desoto-taxis-larger-article-1.2218265
- Gravestone phone found on FindAGrave.com.