Harold Lewis Gold

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Harold Lewis Gold passed away of natural causes on March 15, 2025. He was 101 years old. Harold was born in his family’s apartment overlooking Main Street in South Fallsburg on September 20, 1923. He was the son of Izzy and Gertie (Milchman) Gold who both immigrated to America from eastern Europe in the early 1900s. They moved from New York City to South Fallsburg when Izzy got a job there as a plumber. Harold said he was the luckiest kid in the world because not only did he have his loving parents, but he also lived with “a second mother”, his special aunt Lena Mankes, who helped care for Harold and his older brother Morris (who even two mothers couldn’t handle), and their younger brother Raymond, while Izzy and Gertie worked in the family business.

Harold loved to talk about his childhood, growing up in “town” where he could play with his friends who also lived on Main Street or nearby. He attended the South Fallsburg Elementary School, when it held classes at the community center before the “new” schoolhouse was built. As a kid, he sometimes went to work with his father, as a plumber’s helper, while Izzy eventually became one of the area’s largest plumbing contractors during the boom times of the Catskill hotels. While Harold and Izzy worked, they would often talk about world affairs or town events. After work or school, Harold would run downstairs to hang around the drug store or the barber shop, where he could listen in as the town movers and shakers argued over national news or local politics. He liked to hear all opinions, no matter the spin. He just loved to read and learn.

In high school, Harold was usually at or near the top of his class. He participated in many school activities, and played on Coach Rollie Allens’s basketball team. He also boxed in Jack Duffy’s boxing club where he developed a lifelong interest in the sport. When Harold’s children were little, he used to dazzle them with his jump rope skills, which he had honed while training as a boxer. He also enjoyed chicken fighting with his kids in the living room, to the dismay of his wife.

Harold was a popular high school student, and began many lifelong friendships there. Nick Shabola, Gene Stratton, Chet Levine, Ray Stine, Abe Kahn, George Kerry, Harold Pantel, Abe and Sam Beytin, Irv and Milt Brizel and Louie Lederman were just some of the people who remained his buddies through the years.

Upon graduation from Fallsburg High School in 1939, Harold received a scholarship to attend the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he excelled in academics, while also cheering on the Penn Quakers football team when they were a national power.

By the second year after America’s entry into World War II, Harold complained to the draft board that all his friends were getting called up, but he still hadn’t received his notice. Shortly after that, the draft board kindly obliged him, so he put his education on hold and went to join the army. Unfortunately, he failed the army physical due to poor eyesight. Harold argued that he could see well enough, and he finally persuaded the doctors to pass him — despite his bad eyes. In the army he picked up many of the experiences that shaped his future and so many of the stories that made him a master raconteur later on.

The army designated him for the ASTP program for specialist training and sent him to various colleges where the ASTP courses were taught — including the University of Alabama and Georgetown University. At Georgetown, he served with comedian Red Skelton, and he met another character who became a lifelong friend — Alan Finkelson. When Al and Harold were supposed to ship out for battle, Al ratted Harold out to his superiors by telling them that Harold’s eyesight was so bad, that “this guy can’t see!!”

Since Harold still couldn’t pass the eye exam, the army pulled him from a fighting unit and assigned him to Sheppard Field Army Air Corps center in Wichita Falls, Texas, where he ran the I&E (Information and Education) program for over 40,000 soldiers. At the war’s end, Harold married Pearl Cutler whom he had met as a teenager at Cutler’s Cottages — her parents’ bungalow colony in South Fallsburg. Pearl moved back to Texas with Harold so he could finish his army commitment, and then he returned to Penn. Following graduation from Penn, Harold and Pearl stayed with Pearl’s parents in New Jersey while Harold attended graduate school at Columbia University.

After that, they returned to South Fallsburg where Harold joined the family business — Fallsburg Gas Company — which his father had started as a sideline to his plumbing
operation in the 1930s. Eventually, under Harold’s management, Fallsburg Gas became one of the largest independently-owned propane businesses in the Northeast. Throughout his life, Harold also participated in numerous other business ventures, mostly with his brother Raymond.

Raymond and Harold would meet every morning for breakfast with their mother and father in the same apartment where Harold was born, above the barber shop. There they would enjoy stale toast, a used “tea ball” in a dirty cup, the Wall Street Journal and the NY Times. Izzy read the “Forvitz”. Then they all headed to work at their respective places of business just a few steps around the corner.

Although Harold worked long days and seven-day weeks in the business, he felt driven to participate in community affairs. He was an active leader in the United Jewish Appeal, the Anti-Defamation League, the South Fallsburg Hebrew Association, and the Sidney Goldstein Lodge of B’nai B’rith. He also belonged to the American Legion, Jewish War Veterans, the Sullivan Masonic Lodge, the Fallsburg Lions Club, the Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency and the New York State Propane Gas Association.

Harold was an 82-year member of the Fallsburg Fire Department, where he served as President and Commissioner. Until he was in his late 90s he continued to attend monthly meetings, and he was still marching in the Sullivan County Fireman’s Parade until the age of 92. He was a very active member of the Sullivan County Historical Society, and upon his retirement, he was named Trustee Emeritus of the Executive Board.

Although he loved to read about philosophy, sports, poetry, economics and politics, his favorite subject was history, and he always had a passion for education. He often helped disadvantaged young people move ahead with their educations, and he strongly believed that Sullivan County needed a community college. In 1962, he was appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller to be a founding member of the Sullivan County Community College Board of Trustees where he served from 1962 to 1996. When he retired from the Board, he was its longest-serving member — having been reappointed by New York State Governors from both parties, who recognized him for his dedication and commitment to education, regardless of his political affiliation.

His favorite activity was engaging with people, regardless of their age, social status, color or religion. He would often pick up hitch-hikers not only to give them a lift, but also to get their views on the world. He always learned something from them. He took great pleasure in helping other people, and always saw the best in them, whether family member, friend or stranger. He had undying faith in his fellow man — sometimes to his own disappointment — but he never gave up on anyone.

When Harold and Pearl moved back to South Fallsburg in 1946, their parents helped them build a house on Highland Drive, which at the time was just a dirt road. There, they raised their three boys, while seeing the street grow into one of the prime residential areas in the village. After Pearl’s death, after 57 years of marriage in 2002, Harold continued to live in the same house, not more than a quarter of a mile from the place where he was born.

During their marriage, Pearl remained behind the scenes while Harold was busy with business or the community where he garnered many plaudits. Harold credited her with much of his many successes, and also with keeping him grounded. She would sometimes have to tell him: “Harold, you’re pretty good, but you’re not perfect”!! In addition to Pearl, Harold was predeceased by his brother Morris, sisters-in-law Martha Gold and Evelyn Goldstein and his friend Lila Hillman. He is survived by his brother Raymond and sister-in-law Judy Gold of Boca Raton, Florida; sons Barry Gold of Pompano Beach, Florida; David (Pat) Gold of Bexley, Ohio; and Michael and his wife Vicki Gold who lived in the house next door to Harold for the past 40 years, keeping their eyes on him after Pearl’s passing.

In addition, Harold is survived by eight grandchildren: Louie (Erica) Gold, Hayley (Peter Frunzi, Jane (Vinny) Annunziata, Danny (Amanda) Gold, Tyler Gold: Zachary (Kelly Gold), Marc Gold and Gabrielle Gold. He also is survived by 11 great-grandchildren: Isabella, Payton, Adam, Scarlett, Jake, Jax, Pearl, Alexis, Ryan, Marlowe, and Jackson and many nephews and nieces.

The family would like to thank the many younger friends Harold acquired over the years for keeping him young. Age didn’t matter to him, and younger people liked to sit by him and listen to his tales of yesteryear. A special thanks to Lew Klugman who picked Harold up and took him for coffee at the Liberty Diner every morning for many years; and to Harold’s cousin Sheldon Dishner, who brought Harold to shul on Saturdays when Harold was able to attend services.

A very special thank you to Aldene Thompson, his caretaker for the past seven years, who became his dearly trusted and loyal friend.

Arrangements under the care of Colonial Memorial Funeral Home, for additional information call 845-434-7363 or visit www.colonialfamilyfuneralhomes.com .