FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM AUGUST 6, 2020 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 45
Victoria’s
DIARY
Victoria
SCHNEPSYUNIS
vschneps@gmail.com
tweet me @vschneps
Saying goodbye through Zoom
Dear friend Ron Fatoullah
lost his beloved brother
and best friend Elliott,
who passed away at 73 years old
aft er a valiant, yearslong fi ght
with cancer.
Because of these pandemic
days, fi nal farewells were said
over Zoom at the cemetery. I listened
to the touching words spoken
by Elliot’s loved ones, which
warmed my heart.
Although I didn’t know him
personally, aft er listening and
seeing the powerful emotions
and hearing the memories of his
loved ones, I felt as if he was an
old friend.
Elliot’s wife Erica and I met
many years ago when she represented
Flushing House. During
the Zoom ceremony, she spoke
eloquently with love and devotion
and recalled how they
adored going to tag sales, even
when their house was overloaded.
She spoke about how Elliot
followed his passion and collected
pens, hats and tennis memorabilia.
He owned an old red
Jaguar that was so decrepit that
the fl oorboard broke through,
but he wanted to hold onto it.
Elliot loved being a psychologist
and the family received acco-
Elliot and Ron Fatoullah
Remember their names
From the songbook of one
song “Remember my
of my favorite movies,
Name.”
“Fame,” came the electrifying
Last week, my team hosted a
webinar featuring the four new
CUNY presidents just appointed
in Queens. I suggest you
remember their names because
they will be impacting thousands
of peoples lives as they
begin their new roles.
Watch the video recording of
our webinar on QNS.com.
Dr. Berenecea
Johnson Eanes,
President of York College
Frank H. Wu,
President of Queens
College
Kenneth Adams,
President-designate
of LaGuardia Community
College
Dr. Christine Mangino,
President-designate
of Queensborough
Community College
lades about his brilliant guidance
to his grateful patients. He was
“the gold standard of dads,” his
daughter shared, who said she
“won the lottery having Elliot as
her dad.”
Th e best legacy he left to his
family is the philosophy to be
happy, healthy and lead a fulfi lling
life.
Th e funeral ended with Ron’s
loving words. He spoke about
how “he lost his right arm, his
everything,” with Elliot’s passing.
“Since Elliot was born, we
never had an argument. We
had a rare connection from
being roommates as children,
he was a loving person
who seemed to have it
in his DNA. Until his dying
day, he was kind, caring and
loving,” Ron said during the
Zoom ceremony at the cemetery.
“I’m living my life as
he lived it — he was my
gift ; my rock.”
Rest in peace
My heart ached as I
watched the empowering
funeral of
Congressman John Lewis,
a historic fi gure who will be
remembered for making an
enormous impact on our world.
He was a fearless leader from
his teenage days to the day he
died.
I couldn’t take my eyes off
the caisson carriage that transported
his body across the
Edmund Pettus Bridge in
Selma, Alabama; it was the
same one that carried the bodies
of Lincoln and Kennedy. It
seemed so right because it carried
a man who created and
lived his life believing we can
all stand up for peace, love and
nonviolence. It’s a
powerful message
to all of us.
It’s up to us
to lay “down
the heavy burdens
of hate at last
and that peace fi nally triumphed
over violence aggression
and war.”
He wrote those powerful
words before his death. Th e call
was for all of us to “walk with
the wind, brothers and sisters,
and let the spirit of peace and
the power of everlasting love be
your guide.”
Amen!
John, rest in peace as we all
wrestle with our prejudices and
fi nd a path to tolerance.
In that spirit, Schneps Media
Is collaborating with The
Claire Friedlander Family
Foundation courtesy of its
President Peter Klein.
Th e foundation was set up
in Claire Friedlander’s name to
mark the time in her life when
she survived the Holocaust
at that horrendous time
because of the kindness
of a peasant family who
looked through the sea
of hatred and helped her
hide to enable her to fi nally
come to Brooklyn.
Th e foundation is donating
$15,000 to the Kupferberg
Holocaust Center at
Queensborough Community
College. Th rough them, we
will be giving middle school
and high school students a
chance to talk about their feelings
regarding the Black Lives
Matter movement through
their submissions.
Read our media to fi nd out
more about the expressions
that will be published on video
and in print. We are committed
as a media company to do what
we can to build tolerance, just
as John Lewis did his entire life.
Rep. John Lewis is
carried via horse-drawn
carriage across the
Edmund Pettus Bridge
in Selma, Alabama.
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