Oscar A Wasserman

AVENTURA, FLORIDA - Oscar Wasserman passed away peacefully at home in Aventura Florida at the age of 95. He was preceded in death by his parents: Celia and Arthur Wasserman, Sisters: Charlotte and Edith, and Brothers: Frank, Isadore (Z), Joshua (Chic) and Robert (Bob Waters).

He is survived by his loving wife of 41 years, Elaine Wasserman; his dear sister, Selma Moffie; Children: Aaron (Ana) Wasserman, Shoshanna Richek (Kenneth Hatter), Michael (Liat) Wasserman, Lisa Drapkin (Debbie Lewis) and Jay Drapkin; Grandchildren: Eric (Jamie) Szuch, Dael Szuch, Lukas (Leslie) Wasserman, Sarina Wasserman, Zachary Wasserman and Leora Wasserman plus cousins, many nieces and nephews.

Oscar loved his family, friends, and many associates with all his heart. He treated everyone kindly and acknowledged and appreciated their value. Community was his purpose. He loved being part of the Temple community since childhood. Philanthropy was very important to him, most significant were his Congregations and Boston University Hillel and Law School.

Ozzie, as he was known to his friends and family, was born on April 28th, 1929, to Arthur and Celia (Weisblatt) Wasserman. His father immigrated to the U.S. from Russia (or perhaps Vilnius) as a young boy and Celia immigrated from Volina, Russia. According to the immigrant couple’s marriage license, Arthur was a tailor and Celia worked at a cigar factory. Ozzie was born in the West End of Boston, home to a large, Eastern European Jewish community at the turn of the 19th century, purportedly on the family kitchen table.

By the 1930s, the Wassermans, a family of 10, moved to Lorne Street in Dorchester where Ozzie spent his formative years, and attended Boston Latin School. For the youth back then, much of their social life centered around the Hecht House, a community center; and the Lorne Street kids had a social club called the Enrols (Lorne spelled backwards, his name on the black and orange club jacket appeared as Ozzy) that he joined at six years old. Ozzie was industrious and held several jobs during his youth: newspaper boy, shoe shiner, and apprentice butcher. Following his dad’s premature death in 1943, the family moved to Naples Rd. in Brookline where Ozzie attended Brookline High. With his older brothers serving in WWII, Ozzie spent his high school and post high school years assisting his mother with properties bought by the family during the depression: triple deckers in Dorchester and even a few properties in Boston’s Back Bay.

Ozzie spent two years in the army stateside during the Korean War. He was honorably discharged as a Sergeant, and with the benefit of the GI Bill he went on to Boston University (BU) where he studied Accounting, and then went on to BU Law School graduating with a focus in taxation. While at BU, Oscar met his first wife, Elsa Robinson, also of Brookline. They married and had three children and eventually settled in Oak Hill Park, in Newton Center, MA, in 1962. Ozzie would open a small law practice from an office at 27 State St. in downtown Boston.

Without question, a significant part of Oscar’s legacy involves the founding of Temple Beth Avodah on Puddingstone Lane in Newton Center in 1962. Oscar was instrumental in the acquisition of the land from the Salvation Army, and obtaining the financing to buy the land. When asked by the local banker what he could offer as collateral, Oscar jokingly said, “I have a wife and three young kids”. Temple Beth Avodah has evolved into a leading Reform Congregation serving over 800 families.

During this time Oscar also was busy developing land on Little Sebago Lake in Raymond, Maine. The land, which had been the home to a summer camp, was converted by Oscar and his brothers into modest summer homes. As was Oscar’s practice, instead of being paid for his work, he took equity in the form of a cabin on the lake where he, his wife and kids spent many summer vacations, and even some winter visits when they skated on the frozen lake and shivered in the unheated cabin.

Oscar served as President of the Newton Junior Chamber of Commerce and assisted the City with zoning and other matters. In the 1970s and 80s Oscar partnered up in earnest with his older brother, Isadore (“Z”) Wasserman and his real estate company, State Properties of New England. Together the duo was a force in New England real estate. Among their many accomplishments they developed the Mall of New Hampshire, the Liberty Tree Mall in Danvers MA, Nahanton Woods Condominiums, where they both would live for many years, the Stouffer's Bedford Glen Hotel, and the Wells Avenue Office Park, where the brothers would establish their respective offices adjacent to one another. For Oscar’s part, his practice at the time was known as Wasserman, Fineberg and Wiesman. In the mid-1980s, Ozzie took the position of senior vice-president with the Mutual Bank for Savings and served as a Trustee of Mt. Ida Junior College, as the college's legal advisor.

One of Oscar’s primary philanthropic beneficiaries was the Boston University Law School and the BU Hillel. Oscar was the Chairman of the committee to build the new Hillel House at BU which was successfully completed in 2005. At the ceremony for the opening of the Florence and Chafetz Hillel House, Wasserman said, “This is a building of which we can be very proud. Thousands of students will enter a most inviting facility and be able to study, learn, and participate in programs here.”

In his retirement, Oscar and his second wife, Elaine, moved to Aventura, Florida where they made many friends and became integral members of the Aventura Jewish Community. Oscar actively contributed to his community into his 90s, serving on the Board of the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center and the couple’s condominium building.

May memories of Oscar be for blessings to all who have learned from him and benefited from his kindness and generosity.

The burial is scheduled for Wednesday, July 24th at 12:00 p.m. at Temple Beth El Memorial Gardens. The family will be sitting shiva for two nights. Contributions to the Aventura Turnberry Jewish Center are greatly appreciated.