Earl Lowell Gordon

1932 - 2020

Earl Lowell Gordon

Sarasota, FL - Earl Lowell Gordon, 87, passed away on Wednesday, April 1, 2020, in Sarasota, Florida, from complications arising from the COVID-19 virus.

Earl leaves behind his wife of 51 years, Elana (Ethel) Gordon; sons Lawrence, Benjamin, and Jonas; daughter Sheri; daughters-in-law Cynthia, Jacki, and Marie; son-in-law Karl; sisters-in-law Barbara Rosenberg and Mickey Gordon; 7 grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews. Earl was predeceased by his brother, Phillip Gordon and his brother-in-law, Irwin Rosenberg.

Earl was born on June 24, 1932, the son of Louis and Tillie Gordon, and resided in Chicago, IL. A graduate of Northwestern University with a master's degree in Accounting, Earl was an army veteran who served in the Korean War. He met his wife Elana through a friend's introduction and they married in June 1968.

The Gordons lived most of their lives in Vestal, NY. Earl had a 25-year career with IBM in Systems Analysis. He was an early advocate of and expert in mainframe computing services. During his tenure at IBM, he became involved in corporate education which led to a longtime consulting career with Dale Carnegie as both a teacher and management trainer for program facilitators. Later in life, Earl and Elana together served as marriage mediators. Also, they together taught a college class named Earl, 'The Special Pleasures and Problems in Second Marriages', from the point of view of their shared experience coming from divorce (Earl) and widowhood (Elana).

Earl was very involved in Jewish life. He held many leadership positions at three congregations, including serving as president at Temple Beth El in Endicott, NY, Temple Concord in Binghamton, NY and Temple Beth Israel in Longboat Key, Florida. He was a committed community member at all synagogues for many years and was particularly proud to have organized, invited and introduced many guest lecturers to Temple Beth Israel.

Earl enjoyed playing bridge, doing crossword puzzles, attending musical and theatrical shows, and spending time with his family. A true Renaissance man—he knew a little bit, and sometimes a lot, about everything.

He was a beloved husband, father, brother, grandfather, uncle, brother-in-law and a loyal and trusted friend to many. He will be deeply missed.

The family would like to extend their sincere gratitude to the incredibly dedicated and hard-working medical and administrative staff at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. Under extremely challenging conditions, they took wonderful care of Earl.

Donations may be made to the Temples Beth Israel, Long Boat Key, FL, https://tbi-lbk.org/and and Temple Concord, Binghamton, NY, https://templeconcord.com/.