Ira Lubin, a Great Neck resident for more than 65 years, passed away on Jan. 10. He was 96.
Lubin was born in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York on April 2, 1922. When he was 3, his family moved to Astoria and later to Flushing, Queens. He was the son of the late Nathan and Bess Lubin of New York and later North Miami Beach, FL. He attended PS 122, Stuyvesant High School and The Juilliard School of Music, where he studied trumpet.
He also attended Penn State University and University of Florida during his army service. He briefly studied at MIT in an army radar program. When WWII was looming, he signed up for the army and served in the Pacific Theatre of Operations as a staff sergeant in the 202nd Signal Corp Depot. While posted at Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, he met his future wife Irma Mae Gerber.
After returning from Japan at the end of the war, they were married in Newark, NJ. He later became the father of Lauren Zeichner, Seth Lubin, Pamela Lubin Kon and Claudia Lubin.
He was a promising musician, but after being away during the war he decided to stay home and raise a family. After the war, Lubin worked in the used car business with his father. Later, he went into business with his brother-in-law, buying a lumberyard in Queens. They later owned lumberyards in Seaford, Bellmore and Syosset.
However, his true vocation was art. He studied at the Educational Alliance in New York City under Chaim Gross and later the Jewish Museum under Moshe Zabari. His artwork is installed at Great Neck Synagogue and other congregations and private homes in the New York–metropolitan area, as well as in other locations. He was a sculptor, silversmith and Judaic artist. He created beautiful menorahs, kiddish cups and jewelry.
After moving his young family to Great Neck in April 1953, Lubin became a member of Great Neck Synagogue, where he has been known as the in-house artist. Over the years, he also worked with others to build and improve the congregation’s buildings and interiors. He was a past member of the synagogue board. He was a lifelong Boy Scout and a scoutmaster, where he learned his love of the outdoors and camping.
Lubin, husband of the late Irma Lubin, is survived by his second wife, Edith Lubin; his children, Lauren (Amos) Zeichner, Seth (Kim) Lubin, Pamela (Stanley) Kon and Claudia (Mark Creedon) Lubin; his grandchildren, Rachel (Jeff Wasikowski) Kon, David (Shelley) Kon, Natan (Isabela) Zeichner, Joshua (Caitlyn) Kon, Naomi Zeichner, Megan Lubin, Noah Lubin, Elan (Mara) Zeichner, Talia Lubin, Isabella Esposito and Bailee Esposito; and his great-grandchildren, Nathan, Michael, Meir, Kira, Oliver and Ezra.
