Martin Gasman
Martin Gasman was born on January 2, 1917 in the Bronx, New York, to Minnie and Meyer Gasman. He had an older brother, Jerry, and a younger brother, Seymour. The family lived in a poor Jewish community and was known for working hard to realize the American dream. Martin never got to finish High School and worked most of his life at a liquor store in Harlem.
On January 10, 1943, Martin (Marty) married Dorothy (Dotty) Schulman, just before he was deployed to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II. While overseas, he worked as a cook and managed supplies for soldiers' meals. Marty was present at the liberation of a concentration camp, although the details of that experience are not known. While he could be quite serious at times, Marty was known as a funny guy who was able to make light of any situation and always had the perfect one-liner. As the photos in the accompanying slideshow illustrate, Marty asked someone to take a photo of him with a Nazi flag he came across during his time serving in the U.S. Army. He made his true feelings clear when he blew his nose in it!
Marty was proud to serve the allied army in Europe and made friends with fellow service members of all backgrounds but, as the documents below convey, he was eager to return home. The last line of a letter written from Fulda, Germany, on November 15, 1945 puts it poignantly: "Nothing much to say other then (sic) I sure am in an awful hurry to see that dear old Statue of Liberty once again."
When Marty returned home, he and Dotty built a family. They had a daughter, Phyllis, in 1948, and son, Joel, in 1951. Marty watched the kids during the day and worked nights at the liquor store so that Dotty could go back to school. She went on to work as a secretary at a public school in Corona, Queens.
Marty continued working in the store for over three decades before purchasing it from its third owner. He renamed the store Mardor Liquors, a blending of his name and his beloved wife’s name. The two were married for 72 years, until Dotty’s death on January 14, 2014, a month before her 93rd birthday. Marty passed away shortly afterwards, on November 20, 2014. Throughout his long life, he loved to cook, play pool, dance and make people laugh.
Marty and Dotty had two grandchildren, Evan and Lauren, the children of Joel and Ellen Gasman. Evan is the father of Heschel students Leo and Margot.
