Carl Dreyfus Obituary

DREYFUS, Carl Of Brookline, died peacefully at his home on December 16, 2010, at age 92. Beloved husband of Virginia (Wilson) LaPlante of Brookline, father of Peter Dreyfus and his wife Lynn of Brookline, Eve LaPlante and her husband David Dorfman of Brookline, Andrew Dreyfus and his wife Lynn Modell of Newtonville, and Tony Dreyfus and his wife Michele Lepietre of Jamaica Plain. Loving grandfather of Joshua, Blair, Sam, Emma, Sarah, Eli and Leah Dreyfus, Rose and Charlotte LaPlante, Clara and Philip Dorfman, and Sirrah and Nina Conteh. He was the son of Carl Dreyfus Sr. and Sylvia (Goulston) Dreyfus of Boston. He was predeceased by his daughter Sylvia Dreyfus, his son Nick Dreyfus, his brother Edward G. Dreyfus and his sister Emilie (Dreyfus) Haas. Funeral services will be held Monday, December 20 at 11 a.m. at Temple Israel, 477 Longwood Avenue, Boston. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Association of Haitian Women, 330 Fuller Street, Dorchester, MA 02124, or the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative, 504 Dudley Street, Roxbury, MA 02119.

To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.

Published by Boston Globe from Dec. 16 to Dec. 17, 2010.

Memories and Condolences
for Carl Dreyfus

10 Entries

Sara Stillman

December 11, 2020

Still miss Carl and our occasional get -togethers for lunch and also miss his interesting and humorous stories, his piano playing, and homemade chocolate sauce with vanilla ice-cream. Rest in peace, dear friend. Sara Stillman

May 16, 2011

Carl was a newer friend to COGdesign. We so enjoyed his participation in our events and his support of our efforts to design and build new gardens in underserved neighborhoods. He was particularly pleased with our projects in the Roxbury neighborhoods and became a crusader on our behalf to his friends. He was charming, handsome, and gallant! Lucia Droby

Sara (Sally) Stillman

February 17, 2011

Carl was a dear, dear friend to my parents and my sisters and me throughout our lives. He always made an effort to stay in touch and visit our family several times a year. He was a very sensitive and caring man who taught me the real meaning of true friendship. After my parents passed away several years ago, Carl would call and take me to lunch at the Watertown Diner, or other Cambridge or Harvard Square lunch places. He was so kind and respectful and interested in my life as well as my sisters'. I loved to listen to his stories about the past, to share memories of happy times spent with his family and mine over the years, his quick wit, and delightful singing at the piano. At one point when I needed work, he went out of his way to introduce me to people who could help me. He was like a father to me and I will miss him terribly, but I feel blessed to have had him in my life and I am so grateful for his friendship. I believe he is in a loving, peaceful place with his daughter, Sylvia, and son, Nick, and watching over his whole family with all his love. With deepest sympathy and love to his beautiful family,

Frederick Cowan

December 31, 2010

Andrew: We used to play together as children when you would come to Worcester.with Carl and your mother to visit my parents, Fairman and Polly Cowan. Their's was a lifetime's friendship that typified admiration, respect, good humor and affection. In sum: My father and Carl were members of a mutual admiration society for over 70 years; they delighted in each other's company. In life they always saw more light than tunnel and led us by example. I will miss the spirit of your father much like I miss my Dad's.
One snapshot: In my first week in 1983 working as a volunteer, I achieved the impossible by placing a single phone call to Carl at Dreyfus Rice & Getter to get the AIDS Action Committee comprehensive insurance and health insurance for its employees. With connections like that..my next assigned task was to find a cure.

My brothers, Doug and Len, join in sending condolences to you, Virginia and the Dreyfus LaPlante family.

Fred Cowan

Marty Alperen

December 30, 2010

I have many happy memories of Carl from high school. My thoughts are with you.

Deborah San Gabriel

December 29, 2010

My deepest sympathies to the Dreyfus family. I remember his heartfelt commitment to Brookline, and now his love and good works will live on through his children.

RIP, Mr. Dreyfus. The world is a better place because you were in it.

Warmly

Deborah (Malick) San Gabriel

Ron and Diane Shulman

December 21, 2010

Ginny, Peter, Andrew, Tony, Eve and all of the Grandchildren...Carl was a very good man, and an always amusing neighbor. Our love and condolences.

Steve Hluchan

December 19, 2010

About Carl and me.

Just a few weeks ago Carl and I went out for lunch, as has been our routine for a number of years. Among other things, we talked about my most recent entrepreneurial venture and Carl thought he might like to invest. In addition, he was promoting his most recent humanitarian cause. By now I was used to Carl’s optimism and his relentless desire to make ours a better world.

I first met Carl at a book-signing about seven years ago. I was working for a start-up company at that time, mostly 30-year-olds. A few weeks after we met, Carl dropped by to meet our CEO. After the meeting, at our first lunch together, I tried to explain to Carl that the payback could be years. Worse than buying green bananas. That was when I learned that Carl’s interest was whether our prospects were good, not so much in his own benefit.

None of us will know the sum total of good that Carl accomplished. He was a pioneer in the cause of justice. He was the first to bring insurance into communities that were red-lined by the insurance industry. He was relentless and unselfish in helping the needy, the outcast and underprivileged. Countless are his beneficiaries.

And Carl had a light, happy and romantic side as well. He was a Red Sox fan. He loved to sing and play piano, especially Gershwin and Cole Porter songs. Carl had been playing these melodies since his college days; they hoisted his piano up to his second floor room at Harvard. He told the story so vividly that I can still see the light on the Charles and the piano dangling from a heavy rope and pulley.

I dropped Carl off home after that last lunch. He was tired. We had been out for hours, talking and driving through some of his old neighborhoods, the occasion for new/old stories from Carl. I knew he was frail, but not his spirit. And it is Carl’s spirit that moved me, that is with me now and that will be. Carl was one of whom it is written in that book of gold, “He loved his fellow man”.

Cathy Shavell

December 19, 2010

Dear Ginny_To me Carl was a wonderful raconteur, so well read, and a deeply interested person who enjoyed people and issues. I recall many wonderful afternoons in Rockport with you- seafood- music and great conversation. Always a treat to hear him play and sing- remember "the nightmare song" from Gilbert&sullivan? He brought life into the room- thank you for including me ( a Dreifuss with an "ei" ) into your family! cathy (Dreifuss) Shavell

December 19, 2010

Dear Ginny, My sympathies at Carl's passing. He had a long fruitful and rich
life and leaves behind wonderful family and memories.

Regards, Barbara Sass

Showing 1 - 10 of 10 results