4 North Shore Towers Courier n September 2015 IRIS AND MICHAEL HOFFMAN: Just about everyone knows Iris and Michael… certainly the “lobby crowd” in Building One. Especially when they pause to let residents pet their English Toy Spaniel. This attractive couple has lived here since 1975. Their story involves rescue dogs, race horses, rare shells, rocks, minerals and other collectibles - what’s not to like? Where did you grow up, Iris? I was born in the Bronx and attended the Woodmere Academy on Long Island. I attended the University of Miami and earned a degree at Hofstra University. Then I received a dual Masters at Adelphi University. I became an elementary school teacher in Massapequa. Years later, I changed direction and became the American sales manager for a Japanese freight forwarder that was the largest in the world. Michael, where did you grow up? I was born and raised in the Bronx, where my parents were friends with the Sperbers, Iris’s parents. After attending PS82 and PS26 and Taft H.S., I went to the University of Miami (before Iris) earning a BA. I then attended Columbia University and went on to medical school at the University of Bologna in Italy, but I changed my mind about becoming a doctor. I spent a few years traveling Europe before returning home. What came next? My father was a partner in M. Hoffman & Sons Jewelers for three generations with stores on Fordham Road, Tremont Avenue and the corner of Prospect and Westchester Avenues. I considered joining the family business when I returned to New York. Instead I went to Iona College, earned an MBA and became a CPA. In 1981, I became a sole practitioner accountant, starting out on my kitchen table. How did the two of you meet? Michael was friends with Ken Sperber, Iris’s brother, and both families spent time together. After dating for some time, Iris and Michael moved in together into a brand new rental complex called North Shore Towers. After ten years together, they decided it was time to get married. The building was converting from a rental to a coop and they bought Apartment 12W where they have lived ever since. Were there many dogs in NST at that time? Yes, there actually were six dog runs. We felt it was more humane to adopt a dog that might otherwise be destroyed. We had several through the years—all poodles. After our last poodle died we thought we would adopt again. Saying good-bye to a family pet was so hard to do. One night we were watching New York One and they had a story about a “House of Horrors” somewhere in Suffolk County. Some mentally ill person had kept dozens of dogs and cats in squalor. We saw one little puppy being carried out by our vet to be taken to a shelter. There was something special about this emaciated, neglected puppy that reached out to us. We contacted the vet and followed up on the dog’s placement. The shelter was glad to give us Minnie (the name we gave her because she was so tiny, so minimal) after we spent a week “socializing” her. That’s Minnie’s picture as she is now and also standing at attention in Iris’s arms at a 911 Memorial event at the flag pole. How did you become interested in race horses? We were frequent visitors to Belmont Race Track and often dined in the exclusive Trustee’s Dining Room as guests of friends. We met some serious horse owners there and became enamored of “Ziggy Moondust,” a New York-bred thoroughbred and joined the partnership. We then joined another partnership with “Handsome Alex,” a descendant of the fabled “Afleet Alex.” Handsome Alex is still training in Ocala, Florida, but who knows, maybe a future Kentucky D e r b y winner? Do you go South in the winter months? Twenty years ago, we visited Sanibel Island on the west coast of Florida and have gone back every year since. We bought a beach cottage fifty yards from the Gulf of Mexico. Sanibel is the shelling capital of the world and we became serious collectors along with the many who vacation there. Do you collect anything else? We collect everything that doesn’t move away fast enough. Prints and lithographs. Collector Plates. Rocks and Minerals. While traveling through Nova Scotia, we met up with folks who search for and collect rocks and minerals. So we became “rock hounds” and went far and wide to add to our collection. While in Herkimer County, New York, we became fascinated with Herkimer diamonds. Named for this area they are not really diamonds but the finest quartz crystals. We’ve learned how to find them in their natural state both on the matrix and loose on the ground. Every day is an adventure for us. We pick up and go on a moment’s notice. But NST is always “home.” Long-time residents
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