Maximilian Alter

1925 - 2016

Alter, Maximilian
Mar. 27, 1925 - Apr. 25, 2016
Maximilian Alter was born in Vienna, Austria in 1925. In his youth he experienced the trauma of living under a despotic and inhuman government. In 1939 in order to save him, his father sent him away from Austria. As a young boy he spent several months by himself in Paris before he could obtain an exit visit and immigrate to the United States. He never saw his parents again.
For the next several years he lived and went to school in New York and then in Boston. He had been an excellent student in the Gymnasium in Austria and continued to excel in school in his adopted country. During this time he met his future wife Ethel Holzberg. He joined the army at the earliest possible date and because of his excellence in school was selected for the elite Army Specialized Training Program where he was trained for intelligence work at Berkeley. When this program was disbanded due to meet combat personnel demand he became a part of Patton's 3rd Army. In 1945 he fought across France with his tank unit, crossed the Rhine, and was in Germany when the surrender was announced. He then returned to the United States and was preparing to serve in the invasion of Japan when war in the Pacific came to an abrupt end. He immediately proposed to his future wife, and upon his discharge from the Army began his adult life in the United States.
Using the GI Bill he attended Boston University and graduated with high honors in accounting in 1948. He earned his CPA and held positions of increasing responsibility at the Boston Accounting firm, Patterson, Teele and Dennis. He then joined the textile firm Wellman, Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts. He specialized in both tax law and international finance, and was named the firm's CFO and Senior Vice President. He routinely traveled overseas to direct financial operations for the Wellman Company in Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, and Taiwan. He retired from Wellman, Inc. in 1984. Subsequently, he served as Senior Vice President and Director at Scientific Systems in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
He and his wife lived in Belmont, Massachusetts where they raised four children. In 1989 they purchased a home in Longboat Key, Florida and since 1994 have been in permanent residence in Florida. Max and Ethel would have been married 70 years in May.
He is survived by his wife Ethel, children; Joanne and Dr. Ira Sackman of Harrisburg, PA, Ferne and Dr. John Day of Lexington, MA and Dr. Richard Alter of Guilford, CT, grandchildren: Paula and Marco Capasso of Shrewsbury, MA, Brenna Sackman of Baltimore, MD, Peretz Day of Manchester NH, Dr. Tovah Day and Moshe Spinowitz of Brookline, MA, David Alter of Guilford, CT, Rachel Hardie of Sydney, Australia and Rebecca and Derek Pal of Sydney, Australia. He leaves also 5 great grandchildren; Shalev and Adir Day-Spinowitz, and Jordan, Aaron and Dillon Pal. Mr. Alter was predeceased by his daughter Arleen Hardie of Chicago, IL.
A funeral service will be held 11:00 a.m., Wednesday morning April 27, 2016 at Toale Brothers Funeral Home – 40 North Orange Avenue, Sarasota, Florida 34236 with the interment to follow at Temple Beth Sholom Cemetery – 901 Circus Blvd, Sarasota, Florida 34232.
Donations can be made to Jewish Family and Children's Service, 2688 Fruitville Rd Sarasota, FL 34237 or World Jewish Congress, American Section, 501 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10022.