Photo: Fuzheado / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0. Zabar’s storefront, June 11, 2016 archive. Cropped and resized; adapted image under the same license.
Stanley Zabar, the co-owner who helped build Zabar’s into a New York food institution while handling much of the family business’s legal and financial work, died Monday, November 9. He was 94.
The Upper West Side store announced his passing in a company memorial posted Tuesday, describing him as a “quiet force behind our family business.” A Riverside Memorial Chapel notice confirms his age and date of death.
His death marks the loss of one of the family members who carried a small Broadway shop into a business spanning generations, with a place in the daily life of the Upper West Side. Zabar’s said Stanley spent decades working alongside his brother Saul to carry forward the vision of their parents, Louis and Lillian Zabar.
A behind-the-scenes role in a family business
“Stanley’s legal and financial acumen was vital in shaping Zabar’s into a beloved New York City institution,” the company said. Its tribute emphasized the work he did behind the scenes rather than at the store’s public-facing counters.
In the company’s account of its history, Louis and Lillian opened a 22-foot-wide shop on Broadway at West 80th Street in 1934. Louis roasted coffee and visited smokehouses to inspect the fish, with an emphasis on quality, value and earning customers’ trust.
The business expanded over the decades while remaining tied to the same neighborhood. In the history signed by Saul and Stanley, the brothers described later generations of the family working in the store, from smoked fish and cheese to baked goods and coffee.
Zabar’s store is at 2245 Broadway. The company’s history describes a family business built around food, service and the relationships that bring customers back.
Support for New York’s arts and education
The company also remembered Stanley’s philanthropy with his wife, Judith. It said they devoted time and resources to arts, education and culinary training.
According to the memorial, the couple supported Hunter College, the New York Public Library, Symphony Space, NYU Langone Health and the Careers through Culinary Arts Program.
Zabar’s described Stanley as a lifelong New Yorker who raised his family with Judith on the Upper West Side. It said he would be remembered for the business he helped build, the opportunities he created for others and his dedication to family and community.
Funeral scheduled for Wednesday
The funeral notice lists a service on Wednesday, November 11, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Eastern at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76th Street in Manhattan. The notice also provides a livestream link.
Stanley was born August 19, 1932, according to the notice.
JBizNews Desk | New York
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