Roy Herschaft passed away on Saturday, October 18 after
being in failing health for a long time.
I was friends with him since our Forest Hills High School Days in the
1960s.
My first memory of him was walking to school talking about
the WABC and WMCA music surveys. He was
a big fan of the Supremes while I was a fan of Bob Dylan. I’ll never forget in October 1966 he came out
of his building beaming when You Keep Me Hanging on by the Supremes hit #1 on
the WMCA survey. In high school we were
in a program that emphasized the sciences.
After high school our paths diverged as Roy went to Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, to study architecture, while I studied
chemistry at the City College of New York.
We stayed connected through letters and phone calls.
After college Roy worked for the Peace Corps for a while and
lived in San Francisco for about a year.
After he returned to NYC, he worked for the Department of City Planning
where he stayed until he retired. For
about 50 years, he lived in an apartment in Brooklyn Heights.
Roy should be best remembered for his devotion to culture in
New York City. He was most passionate
about ballet. For many years he attended
ballet class and, for a short time, aspired to be a professional dancer.
He just loved movies.
He would go to a multiplex and stay all day seeing 3 or more films on one
admission.
He regularly went to museums and knew when the specific institution
offered free admission. Roy was also a
big fan of opera and collected artwork.
In later years Roy’s musical interests changed toward
classical music. I remember going to the
record department with him at J&R in lower Manhattan. Earlier in this essay I mentioned my enthusiasm
for Bob Dylan. Roy came with me to three
Dylan concerts at Madison Square Garden, the Beacon Theatre, and Forest Hills
Stadium. I bought a 2-LP set of the
Supremes Greatest Hits which he signed for me.
Roy was a very big enthusiast of the theater. He went to almost every Broadway show that
was out and always could find a bargain for tickets. He would stand in line for hours to get
tickets for Shakespeare in the Park.
Roy was an avid viewer of PBS programming and left money
in his will to WNET-TV
I was always a big sports fan, while Roy was completely
indifferent. I once had an
extra ticket for a Mets game, and he joined me at Shea Stadium. He appeared to be uninterested.
In recent years, I would always speak to Roy on the phone on
Sunday mornings. We would always discuss
our cultural activities of the past week. He always said that I watched
terrible movies. Since he just passed away, Sundays will just never be the same,
so I will conclude by posting hit by Spanky and Our Gang. I will certainly miss Roy.
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