Theodore Propp

He was born in 1923 to Jacob Propp and Dina Cantor Propp of the Bronx, the youngest of four siblings (Sidney, Seymour, Josephine, and Theodore). Jacob was a florist, and “Teddy’s” first job was delivering flowers for the family business. As a boy he learned soft-shoe dancing and played the violin. He attended Townsend Harris High School and City College of New York, pledging to the fraternity Beta Gamma Sigma, before serving in army counterintelligence in Iceland during World War II. He earned a degree in accounting before taking advantage of the G.I. Bill of Rights to attend Harvard Law School, where he was president of the Brandeis Law Club. Initially unable to obtain employment as a lawyer because of antisemitism, he used the time to obtain a second degree in taxation, which had a deep impact on his subsequent career: taxation and estate planning were to be the focus of his professional life.

Being a lawyer had profound consequences for his personal life as well, because it was through a colleague, attorney Stella Honig, that he met the love of his life, Stella’s daughter Ellen. Married in 1956, Ted and Ellen made a home together, first in New York City, and then (following Ted’s dreams of suburban living) in Great Neck. He loved both of the worlds he commuted between. In Manhattan, there were many opportunities for an ambitious and smart young lawyer to advance in the profession, and he eventually became president of the Estate Planning Council of NYC. Meanwhile, Great Neck Estates had a park that he loved for its pool and tennis courts (he would go on to become park commissioner there and a village trustee) as well as excellent public schools that accorded with the high value he placed on education and self-cultivation.

Ted and Ellen had four children, whom they regarded as their proudest accomplishment: William, James, Sharman, and Donna, who went on to careers and marriages of their own, and who gave them six grandchildren. Ted was also a surrogate father to Marina Franchild and Stanley Propp after their father Sidney died, and he provided both financial and emotional support to many of his younger relatives.

Throughout his life, Ted had a love of dancing, and he cut a lively figure on the dance floor at all four of his children’s weddings. He also loved playing the violin, though his love for the instrument was mostly an unrequited one. In addition he was a writer and poet; some of his creations were published in Yank magazine during the war, and even in old age, he composed occasional verses to explore a thought or capture a mood. He retained close ties with his old fraternity brothers until he was almost the only one still alive. All of his siblings and first cousins predeceased him; he was the last remnant of that generation of the Propp family.

Ted is survived by his wife of 65 years, Ellen, their children William (spouse Anna Covici), James (spouse Alexandra Gubin), Sharman (spouse Richard Gans) and Donna (spouse Andrew Gold), grandchildren Rebecca and Ezra Gans, Tzula and Jonah Propp, and Adam and Eliana Propp-Gubin, and several generations of nieces and nephews who cherish his memory.

Those who wish to honor Ted’s life can best do so by sharing their memories here on this site. For those who wish to express their love through a charitable donation, the Jewish Museum would be one suitable recipient.