Jay E. Salzman

Jay Edward Salzman sadly passed away 9/23/13 at Morton Plant Hospital in Clearwater at the age of 85. Jay was born on Jan 9th,, 1928 in South Orange, NJ. He was a graduate of Cornell University, class of 1950, where he majored in Labor Relations. Jay was also a member of the track team where he excelled as a sprinter and broad jumper and participated in the Penn Relays. He is a veteran of both World War II and the Korean War working in army intelligence. He is predeceased by his parents Harry and Adele Salzman of South Orange, NJ. He is survived by his sister Helen Kleinwaks of Morristown, NJ. He leaves his loving wife of 20 years, Marletta, two daughters, Sharon Steinmann and Jill Rende and their respective husbands Kurt and Michael. He also leaves four grandchildren Rachel, Michael, Nicholas, Eric. He leaves his step children , Marletta Wright, Karen Pihakis, Michael Hurley and their respective spouses Steve and Donna along with their children, Zachery, Mikel Lynn, John Michael, Alex & Hannah. After college and service he worked in retailing starting with the training program at Bloomingdales, NY and later moving up the ladder to Executive VP of Rich's Inc in Atlanta and later Stix Baer and Fuller in St Louis and Goldblatt's Chicago. After many years in retailing, he along with two partners formed a children's apparel manufacturing company – Girls will be Girls - in Ft Lauderdale Florida and New York City. As one of the partners, his responsibility was the showroom in Manhattan as well as design and sales. He was a mentor to all who worked around him. While in NYC he was active in the early days of computers and was President of The New York Amateur Computer club which still exists today. He learned programming skills and programmed the software that was instrumental in operating his apparel business and later as an avid stock trader. He purchased his future home on Sand Key in 1986 where he retired in 1993. He met his wife Marletta at a charity function. His time at the beach with Marletta was one of the happiest periods of his life . Both his daughters and Marletta's family reside nearby and he was active in the lives of all his grandchildren and step grandchildren. Jay loved living at the beach, laughing, good friends, computers and was a voracious reader. He was President of his condominium association for several years and was instrumental in its complete renovation from 2011 thru 2012. His experience, wisdom and sense of humor will be sorely missed by all. Viewing held at Sylvan Abbey Thursday Sept 26, 2013 from 1-3, graveside services immediately following at Sylvan Abbey cemetery. Reception following at Regancy Oaks, 2701 Regency Oaks Blvd. Clearwater. In lieu of flowers contributions can be made to the American Heart Association or the Juvenile Diabetes Association.