18 North Shore Towers Courier n September 2016 M A R V I N R O G O F F : A BRONX TALE Where did you grow up, Marv? I’m a Bronx boy, who along with my identical twin brother, Jerry, attended Taft High School. All through school, my brother was known as “the nice one” and I was “the imp.” Our father was in the pickle business. He bought truckloads of cucumbers from upstate farmers. In his facilities, he pickled them in brine with his brother and sold them to New York City restaurants under the name, “Rogoff Brothers Pickles.” Where did you learn to play golf? I lived near Van Cortlandt Park and other public courses. Later on, I was a member of the Muttontown Country Club and played there. Do you have a family? Yes, I’ve been married to June for 63 years. She was a school teacher at PS 3 in the Bronx. We have two children: a daughter, Maury, who lives in Manhattan and runs a public relations firm; and our son, Bruce, is a lawyer in the Boston area. Both kids graduated from Cornell University. We have five grandchildren. We lived in Roslyn Estates for 50 years and moved to North Shore Towers in 2004. I was a retail executive for several large chain stores. How did your charity, “Golf Fore Kids,” get started? A few years ago, I contacted Special Olympics Florida and offered them my unused clubs and those of some friends. They cleaned out my garage and filled their car with more than 200 clubs for their kids. The director reported back, “Having their own equipment gives the kids a sense of ownership and increased confidence.” Other Boys and Girls Clubs and First Tee Groups learned of what I was doing and offered to pay the shipping, if I would send them balls, clubs and bags. I got requests from as far away as Idaho and Oregon, as my project grew. I coined the name Golf Fore Kids using the golf term “fore.” It certainly caught on. Now each time my garage is empty, I start over, collecting equipment from friends and local country clubs. Even if I wanted to call it quits, I couldn’t, because local people in Florida just drop their equipment off alongside my garage, sometimes brand new clubs! In all, I have donated more than 28,000 clubs to kids. Is this your only charity? I was on the Board of Cerebral Palsy of Nassau County and other charities, including the State of Israel, and in 1965, was awarded the Israeli Medal of Freedom for my fund-raising work. What do you do when the weather prevents you from playing golf? About 10 years ago, I got involved in creating folk art in paper and wood. (see photo) Still an avid golfer, I usually spend mornings on the course. In the afternoon, I send out clubs all around the country. As one of the high school golf coaches told me, “Golf Fore Kids” gives us the ability to start golfers from scratch, who don’t have any equipment, and this way, they too can love the game I love.” Marv Rogoff is an enthusiastic and skilled golfer. When he came across a dozen old golf clubs laying around his garage, he knew they could serve a better purpose than just collecting dust. A winter resident of South Florida, Marv read about the Special Olympics and the fact that most of these kids had no exposure to golf. Many were athletic but lived in poor areas and had never seen a golf club—nor did their parents. He decided to change that. His remarkable story was featured in “USA TODAY” in April of this year.
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