Herbert Kallman

Herbert C.

Kallman

Herbert C. Kallman, a street-smart kid from The Bronx who left his mark on the Poughkeepsie, NY, community in which he lived and raised a family before enjoying many years of retirement in Fort Myers, FL, died on Wednesday, February 18, of complications of dementia. Herb was born on Feb. 23, 1924, to Walter and Gertrude Kallman. After graduating from DeWitt Clinton High School, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force and was stationed as a Control Tower Operator in Yuma, AZ during WW II. In 1947, he began working for the Great American Indemnity Company, beginning a lifelong career in the insurance industry. As his responsibilities and territory grew, he was relocated up the Hudson River from New York City to Poughkeepsie, where he met Margery Trivers. They married in 1950, and their life revolved around their three children, their beloved schnauzers, community involvement, local politics, Little League, Vassar Temple and a close group of friends who shared the ups and downs of life, plenty of joys and some sorrows over the years. Herb and Marge formed a wonderful partnership, and in 1963 founded Kallman Insurance which grew into a respected and successful company over the years and enabled them to retire in 1987 to Sanibel Island and Fort Myers, FL, where they began a new phase of their life, with new adventures and new cherished friends. Their success inspired two more generations of insurance professionals. Herb loved taking his children and grandchildren fishing off of Sanibel, watching Marge collect shells, tracking the airplane traffic above his house, predicting the weather, golfing, playing poker, and playfully teasing his six grandchildren. Back in Poughkeepsie, he was the "go to guy" when friends' children turned 16 and wanted to learn to drive. His afternoons in retirement were predictable: a shower at 3 and a scotch at 5.

Herb is survived by his wife, Margery, to whom he wrote many love poems during their 65 years of marriage; his sister, Harriette Lerner, of Stuart, FL; his daughter, Linda Kallman, and her husband, Steve Bromberg, of Haverstraw, NY, and their children, Joshua Kallman Bromberg and his wife Marie Concepcion Bromberg, (and great-granddaughter Tenzin Juliet Bromberg), Benjamin Bromberg and his fiancée Molly Alig; his son Robert Kallman, and his wife Francine Kallman, of Poughkeepsie, NY, and their children, Gregory Kallman and David Kallman; his son Thomas Kallman, of Weston, FL, and his children, Alison Kallman and Jesse Kallman, and his fiancée Shannon Boone, and Jesse and Alison's mother Vivian Kallman. A third son, Richard, died in infancy.

A private memorial service will be held at the convenience of the family. Any donations in Herb's memory can be made to the Alzheimer's Association (alz.org), or to Hope Hospice Unit of Shell Point, Fort Myers, FL (hopehcs.org or 855-454-3104).