Abraham (“Abe”) Cantor
Born in the Russian/Polish shtetl of Tutshin (Yiddish). As a young man he immigrated to America in 1928 seeking freedom and religious tolerance. He came to Boston because his Aunt lived in Peabody.
During the terrible years of the Depression, Abe and his wife Ethel opened “Cantor’s Curtain Shoppe”in Dorchester. They both toiled seven days a week to establish one of the iconic Jewish establishments of Blue Hill Avenue. “Cantor’s Curtain Shoppe” at 1074 Blue Hill avenue, stood for over 4 decades only one block away from the cavernous G&G (“Greasy Gupel”) delicatessen where you could order gigantic portions of corned beef sandwiches, shmears and brisket. Cantor’s Curtain Shoppe and the G&G stood at the intersection of Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury, where 90,000 Jews lived within a three-square-mile area.
Blue Hill Avenue stood at the epicenter of American political life. A young John Fitzgerald Kennedy munched french fries smothered in kishke grease, while pressing the flesh of many voters. Republican presidential candidate Dwight D. Eisenhower also made direct appeals for the Jewish vote from this exalted “Jew Hill” location.
For many Jewish families in the Boston, Brookline and Newton, , affording an exquisitely- customized set of curtains, drapes and interior decorating items from Cantor’s Curtain Shoppe, became the difference between a lower-class lifestyle and middle-class respectability.
He was the proud uncle of famed author and educator, Norman Cantor, whom he mentored and supported. Professor Cantor specialized in English Medieval history, and his books on this subject are required reading in many Universities. His most enduring book is entitled “The Sacred Chain” which focuses on our unique Jewish identity and consciousness through 3 millennia.
He was a sustaining member of Temple Beth Hillel in Mattapan, and a life-long member of the Knights of Pythias.
In 1968 Abe and Ethel retired, closed their business, and moved to Peabody to be closer to their daughter and grandchildren.
Abe is survived by his daughter, Laurie Szycher of Lynnfield; two grandchildren: Mark Szycher and Scott Szycher, and two great-grandchildren: Arielle Szycher and Jason Szycher.