‘A bear of a man’ who cared

Barry Schwartz, a leader who served Lawrence, dies at 74

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Barry Schwartz captained the football team as a senior quarterback at Thomas Jefferson High School in Brooklyn, was the longtime Parks Commission chairman for the Village of Lawrence and served as president of two residential communities, Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton, Fla., and the Bristol Plaza in Manhattan.
Schwartz made the most of what his family and friends called a “no-nonsense personality” to earn football scholarships, vault from the storeroom to the board room, promote philanthropic activities and oversee reconstruction and renovations at the Lawrence Yacht & Country Club.
The longtime Lawrence resident died on Feb. 22 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in Manhattan. He was 74.
“He was a larger-than-life kind of guy, but not in a ridiculous way,” said his wife, Elaine. They would have celebrated 51 years of marriage this month. “He really cared deeply about the village. I used to say when our children got married it would have to be a buffet, because he would invite everyone.”
Born on Oct. 10, 1939, Schwartz was an All-City quarterback who was recruited to play football by Georgia Tech and Southern Illinois University, a rarity for a Jewish athlete, but a back injury ended his gridiron days. He attended Pace University and studied business.

In 1960, Schwartz began working for the Manhattan-based children’s clothing company Doe-Spun. He rose from storeroom clerk to own the company. Considered a visionary in the children’s apparel industry, he licensed clothing brands such as Nautica, Diane von Furstenberg, Colorforms, Barney the Dinosaur, Thomas the Tank Engine, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Budgie the Helicopter and Absorba. He sold the company in 1996.
“Nothing stopped him from doing the best he could do,” said Lawrence resident Howard Siskind, who knew Schwartz for 43 years, serving on the Parks Commission and playing golf with him. “He would have been successful at any enterprise he wanted.”
After moving to Lawrence in 1971, Schwartz quickly became immersed in the village as a member of the golf club, and served on the Parks Commission for over three decades. “He was a very, very strong leader, and had the best interests of the golf course and country club as well as the entire village in his heart,” said Village Administrator Ron Goldman, who has served as president of the Lawrence Association, the village’s civic organization.
Schwartz’s advocacy also included support for Jewish communities around the world, which earned him the United Jewish Appeal’s Children’s Apparel Division Man of the Year award. His work for disadvantaged children led him to be a founding board member of Kids in Distressed Situations, or KIDS, in 1985. The nonprofit organization donates clothes, toys, books and other items to children in the U.S. and abroad. He was also an ardent supporter of the Joel Finkelstein Cancer Foundation.
“He was my best, best buddy; we golfed together for 43 years,” said Village Justice Donald Buchalter. “In all those years we had one fight. My wife said, ‘He’s right, you’re wrong,’ and that was it. He was a wonderful, wonderful bear of a man with a big bark and no bite.”
Schwartz’s compassionate side was also on display when he was with his grandchildren, especially his grandson Ben Sussman, who considered his grandfather his best friend, Elaine said. Ben, who celebrated his bar mitzvah on March 1, sang his Haftorah to his grandfather in the hospital the week before Schwartz died.
In addition to his wife and grandson, Schwartz is survived by a daughter, Jodi Sussman, and her husband, Andrew; a son, Daniel Schwartz; a sister, Roberta Schwartz; and a granddaughter, Carly Sussman.
A funeral service was held at Central Synagogue in Manhattan on Feb. 23. He was interred at Wellwood Cemetery in Farmingdale.
Donations in his memory can be sent to the Jewish Communal Fund/ Barry F. Schwartz Memorial Fund, at 575 Madison Ave., Suite 703, New York, NY 10022.