Belle Camhi

Alan Zuckerman, some memories by Albert Fried-Cassorla 2-8-25

 

When I think of Alan, in general, I think of a man with a great sense of humor, who appreciated people and who had a strong, moral backbone and direction.Most people are given the luck of having one father whom they get to know, and who cares about them. I had three: Louis Cassorla, Staley Fried and (to a lesser degree) Alan Zuckerman.

 

"Convocted" - I tend to have a good memory for Jokes thant I cracked that made people laugh all out of proportion to their importance at the time. One of these was my speaking about OIC people's craziness about the upcoming convention called convocation. I developed a term convocted, meaning obsessed with the upcoming convention, and was often asking people if they had been convocted yet. That seems to have some appeal! I remember Alan using the term and laughing.

 

The enormous resource center. This room had shelves made of wood laminate shelves that chiefly housed issues of the federal register. This was our collection of resource documents that were used to inform OIC staff around the nation. Alan had us build it and it was what we called the resource center. This was a room filled with brown wooden shelving. Mostly it contained copies of the federal register with notes along the spine. I remember Alan remark that it was an incredible waste of time and money to have federal regulators, working to write all those regulations.

 

OIC second ranking exec Ken Duffan marveled at its size, filling as it did a large room.

 

I inadvertently insult another OIC employee. We had a separate office for OIC international on Chelten Avenue where we were about four blocks away on Coulter Street at OIC of America. I remember being informed that I really hurt the feelings of a woman who worked at OIC international. I have no idea what I said, but I willingly accepted blame and apologized to the lady. I'm glad somebody (Alan, I am sure) told me that I’d hurt her feelings.

 

It was no active heroism to apologize no matter whether the insult was real or imagine.

 

Working with Alina Wheeler and Joe Goins. Eddy Wheeler’s excellent photography drew high praise from Alan. He had a supremely high opinion of Alina Wheeler’s design work and he hired her on an assignment basis to work on our publications, including the quarterly OIC key news, the Convocation journal, and the annual report. Plus, I think she developed the layout look for OIC Reports newsletter.When Alina breezed into a room with her boards she brought design energyand enthusiasm 

 

She presented at alternative looks of publications for us to choose a style. Alan lit up when working with her. Alina had high design standards and was very talented, as anyone in the design world knew. (see www.alinawheeler.com )

 

We stayed in contact long after I left OIC. She looked for ways to help me.But she also had critical eye. I remember that I created a scrapbook of photos from my trip to California. She said “oh Albert "" meaning, as I saw it, how can you regard such a humble thing as an airplane flight as an extraordinary occasion. Not that she was dismissing my enthusiasm. She was just amazed that I was so unexposed as to think of airplane flight was special. But my parents had almost never flown, and it was considered an unimaginable expense. I also remember showing here my drawing of my new house Germantown, a sketch I’d created with a creative with much loving care. She looked at the way I had depicted the clouds, and pronounced them strange! Still, it was great to be educated by her and her taste.

 

"Are you making it Albert?" This was a question asked of me by Alan during a phone chat on my first attempt to start my own business, Cassorla Creative. I had plenty of difficulty. My network was tiny, there was no Internet, I was stuck in the house alone, and it was just me and my phone and handwritten records, plus postal mail.It occurred to me to call Alan, and I must've let on that I was having difficulty. He asked if I was making it. I think I was too embarrassed to say no, but I appreciated his concern, and he was somebody to talk to.

 

Alan on fastballs. I remember Alan standing in the doorway to my office speaking to me and maybe one other person about how amazing it was that anyone could hit a fastball or any ball thrown by a major league pitcher. It requires such a split-second timing he said, with total amazement. I don't know how they do it, he said, as if maybe he had been at the plate sometime taking a few swings!

 

Alan helps during my layoff and my immature reaction to it. When the layoffs came after Reagan was elected, I was upset that I was the one to be laid off and not Pat Rubin, who was my senior. She probably thought I was a twerp, which probably would not have been inaccurate!I remember Alan looking at my depressed face and saying, “What are you down about, Albert! With all the talent you have, you'll get a job in no time.” Turns out he was ultimately right though it took a bit longer than expected, but he was right.Part of Alina’s legacy today. In my Center City neighborhood we have the center city cleanup corps or some other name. These are folks who vacuum the streets and sweep them in a particular restricted area for the best interest of retailers and tourists, I think. So the look of this particular group of cleanup people is a stylist teal-colored uniform, I think along with matching machinery. Whenever I see these people I think of Alina and my times with Alan and with Joe Goins.A brief side-note about Joe Goins – Joes was a fellow who took pictures for our publications. He was super-friendly and jolly, as loveable a fellow as you’d ever want to meet. We stayed in touch, and he only passed away within the past few years (I write in 2025). I miss that guy and his great augh. I’m glad that he spoke highly of me to his wife, Denise.Back to Alina… Alina was always happy to hear from me and we had planned for coffee for lunch on an upcoming this month. (“Our meetup” as she called it.) We also planned to get together - something that never happened because she passed away. I remember her telling me of her breast cancer. I asked her if she was getting better. And I remember the agonized tone her voice as she said "Noooo!” I felt so sorry for her. And for me losing or about to lose such a dear person. She tried to help me get different jobs or honorific appointments. She even helped identify an interior decorator for my new apartment, but it was my error not to realize that I didn't have my wife Martha on board with the idea and so it never happened. But Alina put considerable effort into finding the right person and I appreciated it. Life Lesson I take from this: Seize the opportunity, such as for a get together, especially with a sick person because the chance may not happen again. And one might regret it.Monseiur DufanKen Duffin was an executive of stature at OIC of America. He was a little on the stiff side but at least he tried to be personable. I had an employee review meeting with him, and I remember he asked me "So Albert where do you see yourself in 10 years?”“So, Albert, elaborate on that, as if this was General Motors. What division would you like to be in charge of?” So I imagined Buick's or Cadillacs. No one had ever before or since made this kind of proposition to me.Delivering the OIC Key News. When an issue was published and distributed, I used to unwrap them and deliver bundles, which were welcomes throughout the OIC building. This was the proud creation of Alan, Alina and myself. It was as if it was my babies that I was delivering. As if they were my newly published first novel. I was very proud of them, and so was Alan. And the issues were welcomed.Working with Pat Rubin. I remember that Alan worked very hard with Pat Rubin to put out an accurate high-quality OIC report. This was critical to informing the local branches of regulations and requirements, in order for their programs to be running effectively. I also remember Pat saying that Alan was particularly bossy and maybe had a Napolean complex on a account of his short stature. Pat was a very tall woman, BTW. I'm not in a position to judge, especially after the early 50 years.I do know that Alan and Pat were very dedicated to what they were doing. and I respected that.Help with my fear of flying. OIC and Alan would sometimes send me to geographic locations where I did not want to go, but that was OK because it was part of my job. But it was compounded by my terrible fear of flying, which I have since overcome. Alan explained, using logic, that air flight was extremely safe compared to other modes of transportation. He was patient with me, and I think he felt for my anxiety. He was very helpful, and I am finally no longer a fearful flyer.“a thespian and he matriculated" Alan was fond of a phrase used in the southern newspaper or political story where one candidate or an editor accuses another of being "a thespian and he matriculated." There actually is such a story of some kind in a southern newspaper.Brown penny lovers - I recall the random fact that Alan used to like to wear brown penny loafers occasionally. Why I remember this I have no idea!Irish coffee at the Buena Vista café. When Alan found I was visiting SF, he recommended a stop of the Buena Vista café for Irish coffee. We took him up on it, and it was delightful, as he predicted. Borrowing his book on labor history - At one point while in his office, I admired a book on labor history. He loaned it to me and I enjoyed it. Alan loved to educate those around him, in non-supercilious way.Coffee mit schlag – This was how, he said, Viennese people liked their coffee, meaning with cream, and he liked saying it.Albert needs to know more. In his evaluation of my work and at one point wrote something like "Albert needs to know more about the mechanics of how labor law works.” True then and now, no doubt!Seeing Eric and Jonas as little boys. I remember seeing Alan's boys, Jonas and Eric visiting our Coulter Street office building. They were so darned cute. I couldn't stand it! I thought “I have to get something like them for myself.” About three years later, I did when our twins Emma and Ben were born in 1982.Typing wars - Alan and Pat Rubin were under intense pressure (perhaps some with some self-made) to get out issues of OIC reports. This was a technical journal about how to successfully apply for grants and other funds. They followed an intensive publication schedule. This was too much for our typist and they had frequent blowups about the speed of her work and type graphical errors. She asked her higher ups to be moved to a different office and she was granted that. Thus ended the many typist wars.A woman with a pistol in her bed - the same typist said that she had kept a pistol in her bed at home. Alan and Pat had many laughs thinking about how dangerous she was with that pistol.“Oh Albert, come taste my buns!” This same typist cried out this phrase one day! She honestly did have some tasty pastry buns to offer. But the torrent of laughter that came out of that office was incredible!A lovely grad student comes to visit us. A very attractive graduate student came to study the writings and memorabilia of Dr. Leon H. Sullivan. She herself set up in the resource center. I remember that Alan was quite charmed by her.A blind eye towards some incompetence. In preparation for a conference of some kind, I was asked to lead a seminar on how to conduct publications in public relations, to be of use to the local OIC offices. An unwilling partner from our office was teamed with me. “Am I supposed to team up with this young lady who had no interest in doing it?” I asked Alan.I asked him to help me get her to focus. He refused, for whatever reason. It was very frustrating to me. But I went on and gave my part of the talk and no harm was done.Outrage at Reagan when the layoffs announcement was made. OIC funding would be surely cut back after Reagan's election. Alan was furious complaining. He said: "I told them to invest in proposal writing instead of relying on handshakes from Dr. Sullivan. We had the talent and we should've invested it in proposal writing so it's not to be so exposed to the vagaries of politics."Mourning a man named Otis. Otis was an OIC person who died while I was working with Alan. He used to say I remember seeing how upset and tearful he was. My own dad he had to leave a late afternoon meeting because he had to get up “early in the morning meet the mule.”I had never before seen an older adult show such emotion, that I can recall. Like a nincompoop, I tried to talk to him about something in consequential while he was in the throes of mourning. He got pissed at me, rightly so.Objecting to my clothing in Jacksonville, Florida. Alan sent me to Jacksonville, Florida to write a story about a wonderful environmental boardwalk they were building down there, specifically building a boardwalk through a swamp. I was very much into birdwatching at the time. Among the photographs of me taking during that trip or some that includes me with my binoculars and bird book. Alan felt that this was not professional looking. The pic made it into print. And of course he was right. Still, I enjoyed chatting with the African-American folks down there. One of them observed me birdwatching and said "you don't see too many Black people doing birdwatching do you?" I said: "No. Chickens, maybe." They roared with laughter at this!Democracy is the art of negotiation. Alan taught me that democracy is part negotiation. I didn't fancy this, being a hotheaded radical at the time.