Herbert L. Shapiro

Herbert L. Shapiro
Attorney, developer, banker. Born in 1922, wartime class of 1944, the University of Pennsylvania (Wharton School, B.S.). Fraternity brother, Zeta Beta Tau. Graduated from Penn, 1943, after having been accepted into the US Navy. Married in Los Angeles, California during the war, Herb served as a Lieutenant (j.g.) aboard the USS Goshen, a Bayfield-class attack transport active in the Pacific theater, which brought troops home to San Diego soon after V-J Day. Returning to civilian life, following law school (Rutgers), he ran real-estate business with his older brother, Jerome (d. 1969); their model Cape Cod summer houses were displayed in Bamberger’s department store, in partnership. Retiring young, he enjoyed over six decades of winters in Palm Beach, where he welcomed family and friends, from the old Ambassador Hotel to Sloan’s Curve. Herb was a longtime member of Banyan Golf Club, chairing its Tennis Committee. May through October found him in Manhattan, at his apartment across the street from the Metropolitan Museum (where he visited regularly) or in Beach Haven, along its bay, where he enjoyed crabbing, reading, and playing tennis. With the late Martin Elkind, Herb was a skilled, nationally-ranked senior doubles player, reaching no. 4 in the US — in the Men’s 60s — excelling at the net. A distance runner and fine sportsman, he was particularly proud to have defeated Bobby Riggs and his then partner, Dick Lewis, in a key doubles match. He lived his final years at Winchester Gardens, where he was still hosting (gin) cocktail parties for new friends at 100. Above all a devoted husband of 72 years to his late wife, Selma, he is survived by two children, five grandchildren, and six great-grandchildren.