Abner Greenberg, a recipient of the Purple Heart medal for his valorous service with the United States Marines Corps in World War II and a member of the New York State Senate veterans hall of fame, died on Thursday at the Montrose VA Medical Center in Montrose, NY. He was 97.
Abner’s devoted wife Marilyn shared the news of his passing and will carry on the legacy of love and family that defined him through his long, full life.
Abner was born in October 1924 on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The oldest son of Jack and Dora Greenberg, Abner was born into a close-knit Jewish family in Depression-era New York City that soon included younger brothers Jerome, Robert, and Harvey.
Resourceful and willing to do whatever he could for those he loved, Abner discovered at an early age that shining shoes in Tompkins Square Park was a way he could supplement his father’s sparse income as a building superintendent. A standout boxer in the impromptu bouts held in vacant lots in Alphabet City and the LES during the Depression years, Abner earned comparisons to famed prize fighter Jack Dempsey both for his relentless fighting style as well as broad handsome face framed with dark hair. To his loved ones, Abner would go by the nickname “Dempsey'' throughout his life. In 2019, a great granddaughter Dempsey Dee was named in his honor.
The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, Abner enlisted in the Marines. Just barely of age to enlist, he completed boot camp at Parris Island, and then served at Quantico before being deployed to the Pacific. Abner was assigned to the 4th Marine Division and was part of the invasion of Iwo Jima in February 1945. On the 17th day of the invasion, Abner was shot in the head and evacuated. He remained unconscious for 90 days on a hospital ship, spending time in hospitals in Saipan, Hawaii, California and St. Albans, Queens, while undergoing multiple operations to reconstruct his skull and jawbone.
Not long after returning to New York City, Abner met the love of his life Marilyn Wallach when he invited her and a group of her friends that he encountered across Seventh Street to a party in the East Village of Manhattan. They were married in 1947 and celebrated their 74th wedding anniversary in June 2021. The loving couple — an exemplar of devotion to all who encountered them — had four children David, Karen, Elliot, and Laurie.
A graduate of the New York University School of Retail Management, Abner became a small business owner for many years operating paint and wallpaper stores across the New York metropolitan area, eventually working alongside his sons for many years as each developed into a successful entrepreneur in their own right. With his encouragement, his daughters Karen and Laurie both received medical degrees, helping countless patients as an endocrinologist and psychologist, respectively.
In the 1980s, still feeling the physical and emotional aftereffects of his war-time experiences, Abner joined a Post Traumatic Distress Syndrome group. He would go on to work closely with PTSD support groups for World War II veterans and Purple Heart recipients. Additionally, he served as a mentor to many young veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2014, he was elected to the New York State Senate veterans hall of fame.
Abner and Marilyn moved out of New York City in 2018 to Highland, NY. They have 10 grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
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