Milton Bedrick

Bedrick, Milton, a resident of Glen Cove for over 70 years and an active participant in the community for almost all that time, Milton Bedrick has died on Aug. 10, 2011 at 99.
Born in Fall River, MA, he came to New York and worked for A&P, the grocery chain. (In his 8 decades in New York, he never lost his Massachusetts accent.) Although he was quite successful in the company, it was the Depression, and companies were cutting back.
He started looking for a store of his own and found one in Glen Cove, at 68 Landing Road. He bought the business and worked hard to build it up as more than just a "mom and pop" store. He called it the Manhattan Market, and it was a fixture on Landing Road for many years.
At first, keeping the store was a struggle. He thought he might not be able to make the payments, but his landlord offered to wait to be paid, predicting that business would pick up in the summer when visitors from the City came to stay on Landing Road. That turned out to be true, and he was able to continue and prosper. He was always grateful for that helping hand, and tried to do the same for others in need.
He worked extremely hard, coming to the store well before opening at 8am, and staying until well after closing at 6pm, six days a week. On Sundays he would often go to the store for part of the day to write ads and catch up on paperwork. (Later, when the competition started to do so, he stayed open till 9pm on Friday nights.) Despite all this, he was devoted to his family and managed to spend time with his wife and children, and to enjoy an active social life as well as participate in community affairs.
He became a fixture in the Landing neighborhood. He provided delivery service, and often extended credit to those who might not be able to pay right away. He also found business among some of the Gold Coast estates.
Eventually, he built space on his block of Landing Road for new stores that included, for a while, a drug store, a dry cleaner, and the liquor store that he opened in the 1960s and that is still there. At one time he had a small store on Bridge Street and another, a meat market, on Grove Street.
He was active in many aspects of Glen Cove life and was dedicated to the welfare of this city. He was president of the Lion's Club, the Chamber of Commerce, and B'nai Birth, and served on the Board of Education. He was also president of the New York State Food Merchant's Association.
He had great sympathy for people who worked hard but might need some extra help. He especially respected the struggles of immigrants and minorities, and to the end of his life was a generous contributor to many charities and causes.
After he finally retired, he worked for over 20 years as a volunteer at Glen Cove Hospital. Often those he transported in wheelchairs were decades younger than he. He reluctantly gave up his volunteer work when, in his mid-90s, he fell on the way to work at the hospital early one winter morning and broke a bone in his thigh. He survived surgery to repair that injury, as well as multiple bypass surgery. He outlasted one pacemaker and was on his second. He never gave up, and at the end of his life, when his strength was failing and he needed home health aides, still struggled to be as independent as possible.
His wife, Evelyn, and daughter Carol Johnson predeceased him. He is survived by Carol's children, Regina Tanner and Bill Woodall, and by his great grandson, Justin Tanner, as well as by his son Barry Bedrick, daughter-in-law Sharon Bedrick, grandson Benjamin Bedrick, and great-grandchildren Sophia and Evelyn Bedrick. His final months were eased by the skilled care and devotion of Ms. Addie Line Lawson, whom he thought of as a member of his family.
There will be Memorial Visiting on Mon. Aug. 22 from 7-9 pm at Whitting Funeral Home, 300 Glen Cove Ave., Glen Head, NY 11545 www.whitting.com