JAY WATNICK

WATNICK--Jay S.

Jay S. Watnick JD, CLU, ChFC, died peacefully on Saturday April 7th at sunset in his Florida winter home. Jay was born in New York City and raised in Brooklyn by his mother Sophie Watnick and his father Rueben Watnick, who was a civil engineer on the Manhattan Project and received a medal from Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and a pin of recognition from President Harry S. Truman. Jay was a graduate of Brooklyn College and New York Law School. He was a member of the New York State Bar Association and was admitted to both the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court, the United States Supreme Court, and the U.S. Tax Court. He was an active and respected member in the New York City Life Underwriters Association, The American College Of Life Underwriters, and FINRA. He started his life insurance career at New York Life in 1965, where, as a lawyer he operated in New York Life's Advanced Underwriting Department. After 4 years from 1967 to 1971 at Mutual Benefit Life's famous Solomon Huber Agency, he supervised the creation and implementation of financial and pension plans for small and medium sized businesses. He became a General Agent for Security Mutual Life Insurance Company starting his agency in 1974 in the Time & Life building, where regional Financial Planners worked through his General Agency. As General Agent, he attracted other industry members for his development of seminar marketing methods and creative designs of small business pension plans. He created and operated a highly respected and successful Pension Administration Company that did business under the name Retirement Programming Ltd. and this was effective in bringing in many small businesses to use the services of his agency Namco Financial Group, which still operates today. He was an expert in Estates and Trust Law and was sought after for his ability to successfully negotiate the relevant aspects of the Internal Revenue Code Estate Law. He taught Financial & Estate Planning at Marymount College for many years. He was a respected teacher and mentor to anyone who had a thirst for knowledge and stimulating conversation. He was affectionately nicknamed "egghead" and "the human encyclopedia" for his incredible intellect. Jay is survived by his wife, Marianna, of 52 years, his two children, Jeremy and Dariele, and his lifelong dear friend from kindergarten, Dr. Alan J. Friedman. Services will be held Wednesday, April 11, 2018 at 9:30am at Plaza Jewish Community Chapel at 630 Amsterdam Ave, New York, NY 10024.