Hans William Galland

Hans, or “Bill,” as he was known to most of his American friends, was born February 28, 1915 in Berlin, Germany, the middle son of a Jewish factory owner. After leaving Germany in 1936 to evade the growing danger of Hitler’s Third Reich, Hans eventually – after an adventure worthy of a Hollywood movie – found safe haven in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, and by 1940 managed to get three generations of his family safely out of Germany too. That same year, he met and courted Rachel Zakkai, a young Baghdadi whose family had fled the political turbulence of Iraq. They married January 25, 1941, had two children – Leo and Olga – and were inseparable until the moment of his death. In India, Hans worked for the Gresham Life Insurance Company.

In 1947 Hans emigrated from India with his family to Long Island. He worked in Manhattan at Alfred Kramer & Company until eventually he began his own shellac-importing company, H William Galland Corporation. Enterprising and entrepreneurial, and highly respected in his field, he sold his company when he was 85, having already started a new business working with the UN to place Indian engineers in troubled spots around the world. Active in civic affairs for much of his life in America, Bill was above all a beloved family man. He leaves behind his wife Rachel, son Dr. Leo Galland of New York City, daughter Olga Galland Cohen of East Northport, five grandchildren (Kimberly Barra, Nicole Galland, Daniel Marcus, Melissa Myman, and Jordan Galland) and seven great-grandchildren (Samantha, Sydney, Madison, Jason, Alex, Miles and Kayla).