quarterfinals to Ted Falkenburg (Davis Cup member). Following his Wimbledon experience, while still on pass, Stanley went to visit the small town of Torquay, located on the southwest tip of England, where he stayed at a Red Cross for $1 per day. In the evening, he ventured out to a local spa, a charming hotel with a ballroom, where he asked a lovely lady to dance. Later that evening, he and Betty went for a walk on the beach. As the evening ended, when he walked her back to her hotel and asked if she would be on the beach the next day, she told him she was a horsewoman and was going riding in the morning. Stanley, a horseman himself, was enthusiastic about her passion and accompanied her to the stables the next day. After their ride, Stanley recalls with a smile, he didn’t have enough money to pay, and Betty paid for him. When she got home, her mom felt that Stanley was a con artist who would never return the money. It was during this time he fell in love with Betty, who later became his wife, a prospect that was met with complete disapproval, even though he had paid his riding debt on his next visit to Torquay. “Betty’s family didn’t know anything about me. They thought my home state of Texas was all about cowboys and Indians; they didn’t like that I had no job, and they felt I wasn’t Jewish because I’m Sephardic and they were Ashkenazi. Plus, no rabbi in England at the time would conduct a marriage between the two groups.” Stanley, in typical fashion, solved each problem, most notably by gaining employment after he returned home and then reaching out to his rabbi in Houston, Rabbi Alan Green, who later came to Cleveland to serve at Temple Emanu El. Through some letters exchanged between Green and the rabbi in England, the matter was resolved. A marriage would be performed and her family accepted it. The couple settled in Houston. Stanley began his career at Foley’s, the biggest department store in Texas, which later He was an only child, cradled and nurtured by extreme poverty. became Macy’s. He describes his hiring as miraculous because he didn’t fit the job description. It called for an industrial engineer, a far cry from his training. He was, however, the guy who always liked solving problems, and that’s how he talked his way into the position. “They gambled on me and while I couldn’t do everything required, I could handle some projects quite well.” It was also a foot in the door that led to other positions within the company. He excelled in each one and leapt over managers to become a senior vice president, which did not endear him to those ranked below him. In 1970, he joined Uncle Bill’s stores as a senior vice president, where he was involved with merchandising. He was running the store with Richard Bogomolny, who is now Musical Arts Association chairman for The Cleveland Orchestra. Shortly after obtaining this position, it was dissolved, and Stanley met the man who would become his future business partner, with whom he invented, patented or copyrighted products that they sold to a range of industries. These creations included a a rechargeable probe that measures water content in soil for potted plants. He and a chemist created a pool chemistry probe to test water pH and another probe to test soil pH. After watching a canasta card game, he designed a card shuffler, and a container that held cards, a score pad and pen – which sold millions. He invented a device to measure possible leakage from microwave ovens, and a fisherman’s gauge that tests water for higher alkalinity areas where Largemouth Bass tend to cluster. Along the way, Stanley enjoyed a 65-year-long marriage with Betty on Hadley Road in Shaker Heights, until her death in 2012. They raised two children, Linda Slucker, who served as national vice president of National Council Stanley Blum proudly displays volunteer awards, as well as a photo of him and his daughter, Linda Slucker, former national president of NCJW, while visiting President Obama at the White House. of Jewish Women, in New Jersey; and Michael, an environmental biologist for the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington State. Stanley has two grandchildren and two great grandchildren. Retirement is where Stanley now finds tremendous traction. He volunteers for various Jewish organizations, with one notable recent achievement as a member of the Jewish Community Federation’s art committee that worked for two years to help bring to the Maltz Museum the educational and inspirational exhibit, “Violins of Hope,” a collection of restored instruments that survived the Holocaust. What partly drives his pleasure in volunteering is his keen interest in making new connections. “I like to be around people. I’m constantly finding myself breaking silences and starting conversations, always with sensitivity.” One source of this contact over the years has been through his service at a soup kitchen, which he says provides some of his happiest times because he’s helping people. Making anonymous monetary donations is another means by which he achieves satisfaction. He seeks altruism over recognition, though his efforts have not gone unnoticed. His volunteer work for organizations, including Temple Emanu El, the Jewish National Fund, Menorah Park and National Council on Jewish Women, have earned him great recognition and appreciation of his dedication. Last year, he earned the Most Respected Volunteer Award from Temple Emanu El, along with the “Mensch of the Year for 2015” award from the temple’s brotherhood. And last year, the Jewish Federation of Cleveland recognized him for the second time as its most dedicated volunteer. He also shared that he is the only person who collects Jewish National Fund blue boxes, and until two years ago, he and his wife would sit for hours, counting the money. Until age 90, Stanley played golf and tennis, a testament to his remarkable health with only an arthritic hip now, but that’s nothing, he says, compared to what many others must endure. His favorite TV shows – Downton Abbey, Selfridges and Shark Tank – are transparent glimpses into his own past, with the latter plugging into his entrepreneurial spirit and the others focusing on England, which figured prominently in his family life. Stanley believes that his legacy is one of compassion. “If you have that, you are blessed and satisfy a feeling in your soul, delivering hope to others.” So the solution to the problem of understanding how Stanley has managed throughout life, during which he experienced the full spectrum of what’s possible, is that simple – giving of himself and reaping an emotional reward. December 2015 nnBeachwood Buzz 11 June 2015 Beachwood Buzz 3