Myron "Mickey" Daniels

A seasoned exhibit and trade fair professional in New York, he was recruited by Imagenetics of Canada, Ltd., to advise and supervise installation of displays in six of the World’s Fair theme pavilions. The unique “truncated tetrahedron” shape of the buildings created challenges for the Canadian Corporation for the World Exhibition which Imagenetics needed to solve.

Daniels commuted from New York to Montreal so often that he knew the first names of the customs officials and airline personnel. Eventually he moved his family to the Côte Saint-Luc section of Montreal as the fair’s opening day approached. Once the fair was in full swing, he returned to New York and established his own consulting firm, Unifair Incorporated, with offices in the Empire State Building. He later held managerial positions with several other exhibit and trade fair firms.

Daniels was born at home on Feb. 3, 1919 in Brooklyn, N.Y. A 1937 graduate of Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn, Daniels studied engineering at the University of Michigan and transferred to New York University, where as senior class president he was graduated in 1941 with a Bachelor of Science degree in secondary education.

He spent more than 3½ years serving in the Central Pacific Theater with the Army during World War II, working his way up to staff sergeant. He served in Hawaii, Saipan and Tinian, departure point for bombers Enola Gay and Bockscar, carrying the atomic bombs named Little Boy and Fat Man that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. He was in charge of an Army searchlight battery and became involved with a group of Army actors who entertained the troops. Among them was college buddy Howard Morris, who gained fame on comedian Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” during the 1950s.

After the war he accepted a job managing a factory in Kingston, N.Y., where he met and married Lillian Samuels, a Cadet Nurse. They lived in Fresh Meadows, N.Y., near the site of the 1939 World’s Fair and in 1955 moved to East Meadow on Long Island where Daniels was involved in local politics and the Committee for Better Schools.

He retired to East Lake Woodlands, Fla., near Clearwater and Oldsmar, and chaired the Neighborhood Watch. He joined the City Players and designed stage sets at Ruth Eckerd Hall. During that time he contracted Guillain–Barré Syndrome, a rare neurological affliction which left him paralyzed for 2 ½ years. Later, Daniels and his wife moved to Sun City, AZ, where most recently he was president of his retirement community’s governing council.

His wife of 63 years, Lillian, died in 2010. Daniels is survived by sons Saul and David, their wives Judith Daniels and Mechel Gallaway-Daniels, his sister Anita Levien, and grandchildren Dora, Hunter, Alex and Lindsay.