Seymour Alpert
December 8, 1936 - September 29, 2026
Funeral Service: October 4, 2026 11:00 AM
Cemetery: Beth David Cemetery
300 Elmont Road,
Elmont, NY 11003
Notes:
Seymour Meyer Alpert, a son of the Bronx who transformed large parts of that borough as a developer of affordable housing, died on September 29, 2026, three weeks after suffering a stroke at his home in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was 89. Born on December 8, 1936, Seymour grew up on Findlay Avenue in the Bronx, not far from the home stadium of his beloved New York Yankees. His father Abraham (Albert) Alpert had immigrated as a child from Russia during World War I; the conflict forced him and his family to travel a roundabout route across Japan and the Pacific Ocean to get to the U.S. His mother Ruth Alpert was born in New York City and as a young girl endured the death of her own mother from the Spanish flu in 1918. Seymour had an active childhood, playing handball and stickball with his friends from his Findlay Avenue apartment building and beginning his lifelong love for athletics. In his teens he pitched for the Bronx Bullets, an amateur baseball team in the South Bronx. He attended Taft High School and the City College of New York, and later on he earned an electrician’s license. In the 1950s he started working for his father, who owned apartment buildings on West 107 th Street in Manhattan, but Seymour also had an enjoyable stint as a New York City taxi driver. He met Harriet Bernice Dravich — a chemistry major at Hunter College in the Bronx — on a blind date, and they were married on June 25, 1960. The young couple moved to Queens and started raising a family; their son Mark was born in 1961 and Joseph in 1964. By the late 1960s Seymour ran a successful electrical contracting business that specialized in wiring the oil-burning furnaces that heat so many of New York City’s apartment buildings. In the 1970s Seymour greatly expanded his business, becoming a general contractor and a developer of affordable housing. He worked closely with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to renovate dilapidated buildings in the Bronx and turn them into pristine accommodations for low-income residents and senior citizens. He was especially proud of the quality and workmanship of the renovated apartments. Perhaps his most notable project was Bronx Park South, a row of apartment buildings across the street from the Bronx Zoo. Seymour and his employees managed these buildings with diligent care for decades after he renovated them. In the 1980s Seymour expanded his business further, taking on projects in Newark, New Jersey, with the help of his son Joseph. Meanwhile, Harriet worked as a high-school chemistry teacher in Queens and then earned a Ph.D. in psychology from Pace University. Seymour also became a philanthropist, donating generously to nonprofits associated with Judaism and Israel. Proudly Jewish, Seymour was a member for many years of Temple Shaaray Tefila and Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan, where he and Harriet lived from the 1980s to the 2010s. Seymour also owned homes in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, in Southhampton on Long Island, and in Boca Raton, Florida. He was an avid pilot, first learning how to fly a single-engine Piper Cherokee aircraft and then a twin-engine Beechcraft. He loved playing handball at the 92 nd Street Y and the New York Athletic Club, and he remained a big fan of the Yankees. For decades he was also a devoted New York Giants season-ticket holder. In the 1980s and 1990s he made a diverting foray into the restaurant business, becoming a co-owner of three Manhattan eateries: Marigold and Mulholland Drive Café on the East Side, and Café Columbus on the West Side. But most of all, Seymour delighted in spending time with his family, which eventually came to include six grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He did everything he could to foster his sons’ dreams and ambitions, and he made sure that they both received Ivy League educations. He hosted lively family get-togethers in Florida and on Long Island, and he led epic trips to Europe, Africa, and South America. Last but not least, he took his sons and grandsons to two Super Bowls, in 2008 and 2012 (both spectacular Giants victories, by the way). Seymour is survived by Harriet Alpert, his wife of 66 years; his son Mark and daughter-in-law Lisa; his son Joseph and daughter-in-law Susan; granddaughter Rachel and husband Jason Freydberg; grandson Matthew and wife Taylor; granddaughter Katie; grandson Tommy; grandson Michael; granddaughter Sarah; great-granddaughters Charlie and Sophie; his brother Stewart; and his sister Irene Ribaudo.Donations in Seymour’s memory can be made to the 92 nd Street Y at https://www.92ny.org/support-92nyIf anyone wishes to share a favorite story about Seymour, they can go to rememberingseymouralpert@gmail.com and maybe dispel a bit of our sadness with an amusing anecdote.