PAT AND PHIL FRIEDMAN
An American Success Story
HERE DID YOU GROW UP?
My family lived in the East New York Section
of Brooklyn. I had a brother four years older
and a sister nine years younger. I attended the
local high school, Thomas Jefferson.
Three months after my eighteenth birthday,
I was drafted into the Navy during World War
II. I completed a sixteen week training pro-gram
and I was then sent to Treasure Island,
California. From there I was sent to the
Oakland Navy Supply Depot where I spent
two years.
WHERE DID YOU CONTINUE YOUR
EDUCATION?
I went to City College where I met my lovely
wife, Pat, at a House Plan Party. It was love
at first sight for each of us. We married on
November 24, 1949, at the Tree of Life Temple
on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn. It seems like
just yesterday.
After graduating CCNY with an accounting
degree, I attended Brooklyn Law School at
night, a four year program. I worked at an
accounting firm in the daytime and went to law
school at night. It was hard for Pat because by
then we had a one year old son and she took
care of him all the time with little help from me.
WHAT CAME NEXT?
I passed both the Bar and Certified Public
Accounting exams and became an attorney
and a C.P.A. Arthur Young, a multinational
accounting firm, hired me and I spent seven
years with them.
I was then asked to join Pfizer Inc. as a tax
attorney where I enjoyed a long and satisfy-ing
career. I was with them for 27 years and
retired at age 65. When I retired I had the title:
Corporate Vice President. I oversaw all the
United States taxes the corporation paid. I
also worked on their international taxation.
WHAT DID PAT DO
DURING THIS PERIOD?
Pat went back to school to obtain a Master’s
Degree in Library Science when our youngest
child, our daughter, was only five years old. She
was awarded her degree from Queens College.
She started out as a Children's Librarian at the
Oak Drive School in Plainview and spent eight
years there. But because of budget cuts, many
schools in the Plainview School District would
be closing. Fortunately the Syosset School
district hired her for two years but soon faced
similar budget cuts.
Her next position was as a Children's
Librarian at the Gotham Avenue School in
Elmont. She spent 12 years there and then
retired. The best part of her retirement was her
ability to accompany me as I made foreign trips
for Pfizer before my retirement a year later.
WHAT DO YOUR CHILDREN DO?
We have three children: Larry, our oldest,
graduated from NYU Law School. He has
his own practice in New Jersey specializing
in Elder Law. He and his wife, Leslie, live in
Bridgewater. She is a retired school speech
therapist. They have one son, Mark, who also
attended NYU Law School and has joined his
father's practice. Mark is married and his wife
received a Master’s Degree in International
Law from NYU, where they met.
Our middle child is Jonathan. He is a jour-nalist
who graduated from Northwestern's
Medill School of Journalism. He's a successful
freelance writer who lives in Manhattan. He
also teaches journalism at
Stony Brook University.
Our third child is Carla. She and her
husband Rob live in Jericho, Long Island
and have three children. Jordan graduated
from Duke and is an investment adviser at a
multi-billion dollar family. He is now engaged
to a lovely young lady and we are all looking
forward to their wedding in August. Marissa
is their middle child. She is a Northwestern
graduate and recently joined Google. Allison,
their third child, is a senior graduating in June,
also from Northwestern.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED?
On Thanksgiving of 2019 we celebrated
our 70th anniversary. As early as March we
started thinking of how to celebrate this special
occasion with our entire family. We wanted to
do something that would bring back pleasant
memories for all of us in the future.
Pat and I had been on many cruises. Crystal
was our favorite line. Their Holiday Cruise,
which we had enjoyed many years before,
appealed to us as the perfect event. It was
a two week cruise of the Caribbean Islands
and sailed from December 22, 2019, through
January 6, 2020, on the Crystal Serenity, start-ing
from and ending in Miami. We were a large
group: our three children, their spouses, four
grandkids, all adults, my sister, and us. The
cruise was very costly, but a complete success,
enjoyed by all of us. We still talk about it.
WHEN DID YOU
COME TO NORTH SHORE TOWERS?
We sold our house in Jericho and moved here
in June of 1996. We have participated in many
of the amenities. I was an active member of the
Finance Committee and have also served on
the Country Club, Long Range Planning, and
Grievance committees. Pat and I have made
many friends here and enjoy an active social life.
Do you remember where you were in
November of 1949? Perhaps you were not
yet born (we are attracting younger residents).
Pat and Phil Friedman remember it quite
well. That was when they got married. Yes,
71 years ago. Phil grew up in a poor section
of Brooklyn, but with ambition and diligence,
he rose to become Corporate Vice President in
one of America's major corporations, Pfizer, a
multinational pharmaceutical corporation that
owns Upjohn, Parke Davis, Searle, Viagra and
many other divisions.
Last November, as their 70th wedding
anniversary approached, they wanted to do
something special with their family, some-thing
everyone would remember fondly—and
they do.
The Friedman Family
4 NORTH SHORE TOWERS COURIER ¢ May 2020