Alan Daniels

Beloved husband, father and grandfather, Alan Daniels passed away June 21, 2023 at the age of 86.  He leaves behind a large and grateful family; his wife of 62 years Marilyn and brother Steve; his son Mark, wife Christina and grandchildren – Alexandra and her husband Alex, Matthew and his wife Rachel, and Benjamin; his son Kevin, his wife Valerie and grandchildren Chase and Madeline; his daughter Lisa her husband Larry and grandchild David; his youngest daughter Stacy, her husband Jeffrey and grandchildren Sydney and Justin.
Born December 2, 1936 at Beth El Hospital in Brooklyn, NY he spent his childhood on Belmont Avenue in Brownsville, NY.  Alan became the “man of the house” at the age of nine when his father died.  He helped take care of his then three-year-old brother Steve.  Despite the added responsibility he found time to enjoy playing stickball, basketball, and hanging out at “tar beach” (the rooftop of a neighborhood store) with friends.  Alan did not grow up in a religious home and couldn’t read Hebrew, so before his Bar Mitzvah, his Zeyda hired a Rabbi to teach him torah and haftorah. His favorite memory of his Bar Mitzvah was the small party after services he had in the shul’s basement; a spread of salami sandwiches, potato salad, cole slaw and soda, all four things he loved to eat to this day. In 6th grade he won a city-wide art contest and his art career was just starting.  It was in Junior High when a teacher also discovered his talent for drawing and encouraged him to apply to The High School of Music and Art. It was then on to The College of Applied Arts and Sciences. He landed his first job as a commercial artist at Doyle, Kitchen & McCormick and later at Michel-Cather Advertising Agency.  He continued to draw as a hobby, and the house is filled with his artwork.  His creative talents didn’t end there, he wrote three novels, none published, but quite the accomplishment.  
While an unspectacular athlete, he still had a true passion for sports and loved his Brooklyn Dodgers, even going to the 1949 All-star game in the Polo Grounds to see Jackie Robinson, Stan Musial, and Warren Spahn.  When the Dodgers ripped his heart out and moved to L.A., he turned his allegiance to the New York Mets and became one of its biggest and most sufferable fans. Alan found and fell in love with his soon-to-be wife Marilyn at his best friend’s wedding.  They began their life in a small Brooklyn apartment but soon outgrew it with three children and another one coming.  He moved the family to Parsippany, New Jersey in the summer of 1969, the same year the Mets won the world series (coincidence, I don’t think so).  It’s there he became an active volunteer at Lake Hiawatha Synagogue and the Hebrew Academy of Morris County.
He loved reading, talking politics, traveling and exploring new places, and bragging about his grandchildren’s exploits.  He was an active member of Kol Ami Synagogue and frequently worked as Hillel Academy of Tampa’s favorite substitute teacher.
Alan, while a man of few words, could come up with some good one-liners and he saved the best for last, when he told his family “I’m not going to say goodbye, instead just goodnight.”
Donations can be made in his memory to Kol Ami, Hillel Academy of Tampa, and the Jewish National Fund.