Former Menswear Buyer, Kalman Lurinsky, Dies at 96

The following obituary is courtesy of Higgins and Bonner funeral home.

Kalman Lurinsky, 96, of West Caldwell, formerly of Cranford, died peacefully on Monday January 20 in Crane’s Mill Retirement Community in West Caldwell. 

A funeral service for Mr. Lurinsky will be held on Friday morning at 11:30, at Higgins and Bonner Echo Lake Funeral Home, 582 Springfield Avenue, Westfield.  Burial will follow at Mount Lebanon Cemetery in Iselin.  Mr. Lurinsky’s family is also receiving visitors between 2:30 and 5:30 in the afternoon on Friday in the home of Mark Lurinsky of Montclair, and again on Saturday and Sunday evenings between 5:30 and 8:30 in the evening, where Jewish mourning rites will be observed.  

Prior to his retirement, Mr. Lurinsky was a menswear clothing buyer and merchandise manager for Ohrbach’s Newark and New York City stores and several major retail chain stores.  Mr. Lurinsky was born in New York City and grew up in Newark and Irvington.  He attended night school and received a B.S. in Business in Merchandising at the University of Newark (later Rutgers Newark) in 1942.

Mr. Lurinsky entered the U.S. Army during the Second World War, serving as a captain in the 1289 Engineer Combat Battalion in the European and Pacific Theaters.

He married Doris Teitelbaum of Elizabeth in 1943 and they moved to Cranford in 1956.  Mr. Lurinsky was an active member of Temple Beth El Mekor Chayim of Cranford from 1956.  Shortly after the death of Doris in 2006, Mr. Lurinsky moved to Crane’s Mill Retirement Community in West Caldwell. Mr. Lurinsky enjoyed travelling and he was also a regular attendee at the New Jersey Symphony, the Metropolitan Opera, the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, and other musical and theatrical performances.  He had a deep lifelong appreciation of classical music, beginning with his training in violin while a student at Newark’s West Side High School.     

Mr. Lurinsky is much beloved by his daughter, Barbara Denner of New York City, his son, Mark Lurinsky of Montclair, his sister, Frances Reich of Freehold, grand-daughters Eve Denner-Taylor and Joy Lurinsky, daughter-in-law Florence Lurinsky, grand-son-in-law Ashley Taylor, nieces and nephews.

Donations may be given in Mr. Lurinsky’s memory to Temple Beth El Mekor Chayim of Cranford or the charity of your choice.