Retired architect, amateur genealogist and fan of spontaneous word play, Michael Schutzel died peacefully and comfortably in his sleep on May 11th, 2022 in his recently adopted hometown of Great Neck, NY.
Michael was born in Brooklyn, the son of Mandel Schutzel and Ida Lutz(ky). His parents and his sister, Ann Schutzel Dosch, pre-decease him.
From a young age, Mike enjoyed the arts, and spent afternoons either at piano class or with the Abraham Lincoln High School stage squad. As a child of the depression, set design was not a career one pursued, so instead he completed a Bachelors in Architecture at Syracuse University in 1951. After passing his Boards on his first attempt and getting a job as a draftsman, he was, ironically, drafted into the Army in 1952. He loved his time serving in Germany, where he discovered his love of skiing, the first sport he ever enjoyed.
After practicing architecture with Becker and Becker for a decade, he joined the City University of New York as the Director of Real Estate and Planning. He remained there until his retirement in the mid-1990s, when he became a full-fledged genealogist, even traveling to Odessa and small towns in Ukraine, searching for family records and answering many questions about his family’s racy past (divorce?! In the 1890s?). He even found long-lost second cousins who survived WW2 and emigrated to the US in the 1980s. He reunited with them in 1997.
Mike was kind, considerate and thoughtful. He always put others before himself – even people he did not know. He loved history, talking about politics, and thinks children should be spared from visiting elderly relatives who only speak Yiddish. He was frugal to an extreme (he would NEVER hail a cab - what are you, nuts?) unless it came to his children’s higher education.
Michael is survived by his daughter, Laura Lichtenstein (Eric Lichtenstein), and son, Peter Schutzel (Carol Schutzel), along with four grandchildren, Jacob and Isla Lichtenstein, and Sadie and Margot Schutzel, as well as nieces, grand-nieces, and grand-nephews who call him GREAT Uncle Mike.
In lieu of flowers or fuss, please think of him often. A donation will be made in his name to the New Israel Fund and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Funeral service Thursday May 12, 2022 @ 5:00 PM @ Riverside-Nassau North Chapels, 55 North Station Plaza (opposite LIRR), Great Neck, New York.
Services under the direction of Riverside-Nassau North Chapels (516) 487-9600, riversidenassaunorthchapels.cpm.
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