Herman Shooster

Herman Shooster, 89, of Coral Springs, Florida, died 20 February 2014 resting comfortably at home with his family at his side. He was the youngest of three brothers, Isadore, Harry, and Herman. He was born to Frank and Dora Shooster in Chester, PA, both immigrants from Russia and Poland. At the age of ten he started his business career pumping gas and flipping burgers for the family business. Herman was pre-med in college and when he enlisted in the army they trained him to be a medic. He served during WWII in the Philippines where he treated many wounded soldiers and civilians. When the war ended Herman returned and changed his major to Marketing and he received his degree from Temple University. Shortly after he and his brother Harry converted the gas station and burger joint into Shooster's Drive-in Restaurant. One Friday night, Bill Haley and his band the Comets played Rock Around the Clock for a group of orphan kids. There was also a young patron from Crozier Theological Seminary, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. In 1953 Herman married his wife Dorothy of sixty years. They first settled in Chester, Pennsylvania where they had four children. The brothers were eventually forced to sell the restaurant property in Chester to the State of Pennsylvania by eminent domain to build what is now the Commodore Barry Bridge. In 1961 they moved to Cherry Hill, New Jersey where Herman worked for a frozen food company and later started his own frozen food business. That business called Cherry Hill Foods became a public company. Sadly, the business fell but not before Herman was asked to resign from the company that he had started. The next two years Herman was out of work and struggling to make a living. That was a tough period in his life and he ended up on the unemployment line. He tried the real estate business and mail order business, and neither was successful. In 1973 Dorothy's mother moved to a retirement community in West Palm Beach, FL. Dorothy missed her mother and suggested to Herman that if he is going to start over again that maybe they should consider South Florida where the weather is a bit nicer. In 1974, with limited resources at the age of fifty, with one child in college, and three more at home, Herman and Dorothy sold their house and moved to Hollywood, Florida. After several months and visiting many small businesses, Herman purchased a little company called Ding-A-Ling Telephone Answering Service. He knew nothing about this business at the time but saw potential. That was forty years ago. Over time the name was changed and it's been a "Great Day at Global Response" ever since. Today every one of his children and their spouses along with many other caring long-term associates work together to help run the family business. Herman was always generous, humble, and genuinely interested in everyone from the family to his extended family at work. This past year he was responsible for over 1,500 jobs, all in the USA during the holiday season. Herman was one of the first pioneers to offer childcare reimbursement benefits and was recognized in the Wall Street Journal. There were many charities where Herman had a philanthropic interest, including the Jewish Federation, Women in Distress, Youth Automotive Training Center, ADL and Autism Speaks, to name a few. In the year 2004 Broward County named a park the Herman and Dorothy Shooster Preserve in their honor. On April 18th 2013 Herman was given the Excalibur Award. This is a special award given by the Sun Sentinel for the businessman of the year in Broward County. Herman was so proud of this special award. Shortly afterwards he was diagnosed with Leukemia which he fought for nine months. For Herman it was about the quality of life. He would say "No Heroics!" However, he managed to make it into the office many more days where he enjoyed his style of management he called "Management By Walking Around" www.youtube.com/watch?v=zY2MDf-1S0k to see all of the people he cared so much about, and then to see his 89th birthday on November 29th, to see his first grandson married on December 15th and to see the year end of his best year in business ever. Herman is survived by his wife Dorothy, his brother Harry & wife Ida Shooster, brother-in-law Albert & sister-in-law Pearl Nipon, brother-in-law Alan & sister-in-law Barbara Schluger, children Frank, Michael & Alizabeth, Stephen & Diane, and Max & Wendy. In addition, he has fifteen grandchildren Joseph & Becky, Jason, Jay, Lauren, Jessica, Jamie, Carly, Forrest, Max, Abigail, Tommy, Jacob, Cassidy, and Logan. Funeral services will be held at Temple Beth Torah, 5700 NW 94th Ave, Tamarac on Sunday, February 23, 2014 at 2 PM.