Nathan Straus III

1916 - 2014
Nathan Straus, III

STRAUS-Nathan, III, 98 died peacefully on Tuesday morning in Brattleboro, Vermont. He was born on June 23rd , 1916, in New York City, and lived the next 96 years in New York and Westchester.

His father was a New York state senator and the administrator of the U.S. Housing Authority under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His grandfather, Nathan Straus Sr., was a philanthropist who co-owned the R. H. Macy and Abraham & Straus department stores. A great-uncle, Isidor, who went down on the Titanic in 1912, was a congressman and co-owner of Macy's; another, Oscar Solomon, was ambassador to the Ottoman Empire and President Theodore Roosevelt's secretary of commerce and labor.

Continuing the legacy of public service, Nathan Straus served over the years as President of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, President of the National Association for the Prevention of Addiction to Narcotics, Chairman of the National Committee for Immigration Reform, and Chairman of The State-City Nationalities Division of the Democratic State Committee. He attempted in both 1966 and 1968 to become a congressman representing a district in the Bronx. He was a businessman until his reluctant retirement at 94, selling restaurant and hotel equipment.

Mr. Straus graduated Dartmouth College in 1938, and got his Masters degree in Business at Columbia University. He served in WWII in the European Theater of Operations, and retired in 1945 with the rank of Lieutenant Commander.

He is survived by his three children, Andrea, Joseph, and Martha, and six grandchildren, along with many other loving relatives. He was predeceased by his beloved wife of 64 years, Rebecca, in 2009.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to Holton Home, 158 Western Avenue, Brattleboro, VT, 05301.