Henry Fruchtman 10/12/1896-6/13/1978

Family: he was married to Lillian Fruchtman, their children were Arlene and Judith

Howard Margolis remembers Henry as a pleasant, gentle man who was always an optimist. Henry met his wife-to-be in New York City and he came down to Durham to work at his brother-in-law Harry Goldberg’s dry goods store. Henry was the assistant manager and his special area was shoes. His wife Lillian also worked there. Born in New York, Henry could not lose his roots and he was a life long New York Giant fan.

Henry was active in the Jewish community and was chairman of B’nai Brith. He ran bingo games as a fundraise at Beth El. Howard remembers there was a great controversy at the time as to whether gentiles should be invited to the bingo games. Apparently deciding not to create an exclusive “Jewish bingo,” the fundraisers agreed to open up the games.