ELKAN L. RIES

1926 - 2019

RIES, Elkan L. Jr. Passed away on October 6, 2019 in Sarasota, Florida at the age of 92. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland on December 30, 1926 to Elkan L. Ries, Sr. and Fannie Goodman Ries. A 1944 graduate of The Park School in Baltimore, he also attended Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Elkan was married to Shirley Hirsch Ries of Atlanta, GA for 67 years. They met and fell in love while he was serving in the army and stationed at Fort Benning, GA. After working in his family's Baltimore-based wholesale and distribution shoe business, D. Myers & Sons, Inc., Elkan moved to Massachusetts and started his own shoe business, Elleri Footwear. He and Shirley were longtime Boston area residents and raised three daughters there: Janet Ries Stern, Cathy Ries Neal, and Patti Ries. He encouraged his daughters to be strong, self-sufficient women, pursue their passions, have fun, and to love sports and the arts.

Elkan will be remembered for his kindness to strangers, kinship with people from all walks of life, and sense of humor that belied a quiet but powerful sense of charity. He was known by all for his wit, but by many for the mitzvot he performed for them, without fanfare, at some important stage of life or another. Elkan volunteered at Sarasota Hospice, bringing humor and caring irreverence to the most vulnerable, and drove a cruiser for the Sarasota police as an unarmed and largely ineffective "Citizen Volunteer." He also supported the founders of Aviva, the Jewish Housing Council Foundation campus in Sarasota where he and Shirley later lived together. Most of all, everyone loved partying with Elkan. He understood relationships - with their challenges and their celebrations - to be the heart of one's life, and he lived this value daily.

Elkan is survived by his wife, Shirley, of Sarasota, FL; his brother, E. Carey Ries, of Baltimore; his daughters, Janet Ries (Dr. Matthew) Stern; Cathy Ries (Todd) Neal; and Patti Ries; his grandchildren, Margot Ries Stern, Jeffrey Elkan Stern, Jenna Max Stern, Isabel Ries Neal, Wilson Ries Neal, and Gabriel Jake Young; and great-granddaughter, Lila Elkan Robinson.

Funeral arrangements were private. In lieu of flowers, donations in Elkan's name can be made to the Benevolent Care Fund, https://www.avivaseniorlife.org/the-aviva-foundation/donate-today/ or by mailing a check to Benevolent Care Fund, Aviva Foundation, 1955 N. Honore Ave., Ste. B1, Sarasota, FL 34235.