Edward W. Weintraut

Edward William Weintraut, 86, of Cherry Hill, passed away on Monday, February 16, 2015. He was born to the late Edward and Cecelia Weintraut in Philadelphia. Mr. Weintraut was an accomplished model railroader and avid stamp, coin, and pocket-watch collector. He served in the Army during the Korean War. After being honorably discharged, he married his life-long love Dorothy and established himself as an expert watchmaker on Jeweler’s Row in downtown Philadelphia. In 1957, he founded Ed Weintraut Jewelers at 8th and Walnut, a business currently run and operated by his son, Robert. Due to his fine craftsmanship and youthful appearance, Mr. Weintraut was known to everyone on Jeweler’s Row as the "Boy Jeweler"-a nickname he treasured up to his retirement in February 2014. Edward is predeceased by his sister, Leona Jacoby and his daughter-in-law, Patricia Weintraut. He is survived by his wife, Dorothy Claire Weintraut; five children, Edward Weintraut and his wife Roberta, Robert Weintraut, Neil Weintraut, Steven Weintraut and his wife Denise, and Cynthia Weintraut; ten grandchildren Ted Weintraut and his wife Ellen, James Davies and his wife Jenni, Megan Weintraut, Robert Weintraut and his wife Melody, Crystal Weintraut, Benjamin Weintraut, Zachary Weintraut, Nicholas Weintraut, Emily Weintraut, Sarah Weintraut; and great-grandson, Owen Weintraut. Relatives and friends are invited to gather for a visitation on Tuesday, February 14, 2015 from 10am to 11am at Inglesby & Sons Funeral Home, located at 2426 Cove Rd., Pennsauken, NJ 08109. A funeral service will be celebrated at 11am at the funeral home. Edward will be laid to rest at Calvary Mausoleum in Cherry Hill. The family wishes to thank all of the staff at the Fountains at Cedar Parke and Samaritan Hospice who cared for Mr. Weintraut during the last year of his life. Feel free to post photos, share a memory, or send an online condolence to the family. This is the story of my dad, Edward, who passed away today, February 16th, 2015. He was just a few days shy of his 87th birthday. He was a self made man. He grew up with nothing. But he worked hard. He saved his money. And as a result he was able to buy his own car, his own house, and his own business before most of us would have graduated college. He persevered through many tragedies, including the birth of my sister, who was born severely handicapped, with the center part of her brain, the corpus colosseum, never completely forming, and a host of other severe physical and mental handicaps that required us to give her 24/7 care just to keep her alive, Despite this, my Dad continued to work around the clock to provide for our family and give us the best life he could. He was born into a very poor family. He also grew up in the shadows of his sister, who his father showered with attention while mostly ignoring him. In spite of that, he excelled at most things he did, and had an amazing work ethic that earned him his spot in what is known as the “greatest generation”. At sixteen, as a box boy, he was offered the opportunity to go to a special training school for the American Store where he worked, after which he would be given his own store to manage. He declined, with his passion for life centered about becoming an expert watchmaker. He went to watchmaker school but dropped out, because they weren’t teaching him anything he hadn’t already learned on is own. He got a job as an apprentice watchmaker at a jewelry store, He worked hard, and he saved every penny he could. He also served in the 82nd Airborne in the Korean War. Shortly thereafter, he was able to rent a space to open his own store. Not long after he did, he heard a rumor that his building was about to be sold, and it turned out to be true. So he negotiated with the owner to buy out the building himself, and the owner agreed. He would then run his Philadelphia based store for over 50 years. He was known as the “Boy Jeweler” because he not only started his business so young but he also looked even younger than his actual age would indicate. He did not just sell watches and jewelry though. Looking back at a time where there were no Target stores, or Kmart stores, or Costco stores, my dad ran a complete catalog business, where you could just as easily come to the store and buy a toaster or a television as easily as you could buy a watch or a bracelet. It was a family affair, with all of us hunkered down in the basement of our house at various times of the year affixing mailing labels on large catalogs to mail out to the local community. He was also Catholic by birth, which was odd, since his last name sounded Jewish and most of the Jeweler’s in the surrounding stores were also Jewish. He fit right into the part though, as he picked up a lot of Yiddish vocabulary and had fun with his role in the local business community. Everyone seemed to know him. As I grew up, it seemed that where-ever I went, when someone heard my oddly spelled last name, it would be common for someone to come up to me and ask if I was his son, and it would turn out that he fixed their watch, or sold a family member their engagement ring, or something else similar along those lines. But that is where things got sad, because he could never “not work”. He could never buy some simple gadget for his own enjoyment. He was always putting off what he could do today for himself with the plan that he would do it later. But later never came. Occasionally, he would take a few hours here or there to indulge himself in his love of model trains, but that was the only time he ever took for himself. For years, I told him he should retire and concentrate on his trains, and travel, and see the world, but he always thought that would be something he would do later. My mother developed Alzheimer's disease and became violent and then non-functional while my Dad was still very healthy and active. I had always thought that my parents had fallen out of love years ago and that they were just together for the sake of being together. When my Mom finally had to be moved into a nursing home I realized I was very wrong. Despite still going to work every day, despite still managing the care of my sister, despite still doing his best to exercise at the gym while in his 70’s and 80’s, my Dad still managed to sit with my Mom every single day at the nursing home. Feeding her. Singing to her. Kissing her. For years. For years and years. Non-stop. Every single day. Eventually though, time caught up with him. He had chronic pain throughout his body. Yet in spite of this, he continued to go to work every day until one day he fell and fractured his elbow. That was a little over a year ago, and that began a slow but steady decline that led to this day where I am writing about the passing of my father. We were told he was likely to pass a few weeks ago, but my wife and I visited him, and my wife gave him the biggest hug you could ever imagine, and held him tightly, and let him know how loved he was. Like out of a science fiction movie, that almost magically injected him with life, and he became much more communicative and responsive, and we were able to share some conversation with him for a time. But today he finally slipped away from us. He is no longer here. Feel free to visit www.edweintraut.com to view pictures of Edward Weintrauts legacy.

Edward W. Weintraut

February 19, 1928 - February 16, 2015