Eugene Berkowitz

Eugene Harold (Gene) Berkowitz, passed away shortly after midnight on Sunday, December 29, 2019, surrounded by his loving family. Gene was born in Newark, N.J. on February 20, 1926, the youngest of five children born to Morris and Rose Berkowitz. His father, a pharmacist, worked for the Public Health Service, and when Gene was five years old, the family moved to Key West where his father served as the Administrator for the U.S. Navy hospital. Gene loved to regale family and friends with stories of growing up on the idyllic and somewhat quirky island. He spoke of the time that his sister was asked by Ernest Hemingway to serve as a fourth for a tennis match, of assisting in one man’s efforts to build an airplane out of cigar boxes, and of many other characters that inhabited the island. Eighty years later, he was still in touch with friends he made there.

In 1943, his father was transferred to the Navy hospital in New Orleans, and Gene graduated from high school there. As soon as possible, he enlisted in the Coast Guard and served as the chief sonar operator on a sub-chaser, first in the North Atlantic, and then, after D’ Day, in the South Pacific. After the war, he returned to New Orleans where he served as an ambulance driver and started classes at Tulane University. He never got a degree from Tulane, mostly because while visiting his sister, Anita, at Florida State College for Women, he met Irene Gross, one of Anita’s sorority sisters. After almost two years of long-distance dating, they were married in Tallahassee on July 25, 1948. Gene had worked with some of Irene’s cousins in Atlanta to learn the linen supply business, and started Gene’s Linen Supply, initially working out of his father-in-law’s downtown laundry. Some of the first customers of the business were the iconic Silver Slipper Restaurant (where he and Irene got engaged) and Joe’s Spaghetti House. He ran a successful business, building his own plant on All Saints Road, merging with Apex Linen Supply out of Atlanta, and eventually building a larger plant on 4th Avenue.

In addition to his business, Gene participated in civic organizations like the Junior Chamber of Commerce, the Chamber of Commerce and the Rotary Club. Ultimately, he ran for a seat on the City Commission and was elected in February, 1967. He served two three-year terms, and was mayor for two of those years. He brought a progressive agenda to a commission that had not seen a new member for years. One of his early successes, for which he would take no credit, was the instrumental role he played in re-opening the city’s public pools which had been closed because of integration.

Beyond Gene’s business and civic activities, the most important thing to him was family. He was a devoted husband to Irene for 63 years, the last few as her sole caretaker, he was a gentle father to his three children, and a caring brother and uncle to his siblings and their children. His five grandchildren know how lucky they were to have had him in their lives, and he was beyond proud when his twin great grandchildren were born a year after Irene passed away. He attended their fourth birthday party in Athens, Georgia in October. He loved golf at Capital City Country Club, fishing on the flats out from St. Marks, and spending time with the Poker Club; the Fleets, Gilbergs, Greenbergs, Mendelsons, Freggers and others. He and Irene loved to travel and covered the U.S. as well as many countries abroad. He was not above a prank or two, starting a watermelon fight at the dining room table with family and friends, or telling a joke that ended with him going head first, fully dressed, into a pool.

Gene continued to live independently in the house he and Irene built in Waverly Hills, and he was working on a book about his father’s career when he died. Gene was preceded in death by his parents, his siblings, and his adored Irene. He is survived by his three children, Ellen Berkowitz (Jerry Altman), Lynn Reese (Bert) and Brian Berkowitz (Carol), his grandchildren, Jason Reese, Michell Reese Jordan (Chistopher), Alex Altman, and Adam and Robert Berkowitz, and the joy of his latter years, great grandchildren Jonah and Annabelle Jordan.

Graveside services will be held at Oakland Cemetery on Tuesday, December 31, at 11:00 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to Temple Israel or to Big Bend Hospice in Tallahassee.