Abraham Abraham
Founded in Brooklyn, in 1865, Abraham and Straus was one of the most popular department stores in New York. Boasting over a dozen locations, A & S (as it was commonly called) became synonymous with elegance and style. Company co-founder Abraham Abraham died in 1911, and his funeral was emblematic of the esteem in which he was held. On that day, all A & S and Macy’s (owned by his business partners Isidor and Nathan Straus) locations were closed. Fifty honorary pallbearers, which included the Straus brothers, former Brooklyn Mayor Charles Schieren and New York City Mayor Jay Gaynor, accompanied Abraham's casket into the synagogue. It was Mayor Gaynor, a close friend of Abraham's, who also gave the eulogy. “ I never knew a more just and equitable man than Abraham Abraham,” Gaynor told the congregation. Abraham is entombed in Salem Fields Cemetery within a stately mausoleum.