SYDNEY JACOFF

JACOFF--Sydney, died peacefully at home on October 28 at age 99. Businessman, sailor, philanthropist, serious reader, crack anagrams player. For 66 years, loving husband of Helen until her death in 2005. Born June 12, 1915, the second of four sons of Samuel and Sarah Jacoff, he is survived by his sons Michael (Jeanne) and Daniel, Daniel's sons Benjamin and Samuel, and many nieces and nephews. Graduating from City College of New York in 1935, he went to work with his father who had shortly before established a small tool manufacturing business, essentially a two-man operation, where Sydney had already been helping out part-time. As the enterprise grew, all his brothers joined them over the next decade or so. Together they built it into the still flourishing Great Neck Saw Manufacturers, now run by a third generation, through their dedication and hard work. Hap- piest when at the wheel of the Sarah in a stiff breeze, if Helen was with him, or, again in her company, gazing out over the Provencal landscape and discussing what the day's excursion should be. He also took great pleasure in a close circle of extraordinary friends with whom he and Helen shared many good times and some difficult ones as well over many decades. He also experienced his share of adversities most notably, the long, ever deepening darkness of Helen's Alzheimer's. A remarkable ability to maintain a positive spirit in the face of setbacks and a gift for connecting with people helped sustain him through these times. In lieu of flowers, contributions to either of the two causes that were closest to his heart would be appreciated: the Sydney and Helen Jacoff Scholarship Fund at the City College Fund or the Long Island Alzheimer's Foundation. Funeral on Thursday, October 30 at 1:30pm at Riverside-Nassau North Chapels, 55 North Station Plaza, Great Neck, NY, 11021. 516-487-2513.