Bertram Perkel

We lost our beloved father, uncle and grandfather, Bertram (Buddy) Perkel, on March 22, 2024. He passed away due to complications from a fall. Buddy was predeceased by his wife, Marla Perkel, in January 2023.

Buddy Perkel was born in New York City on December 21, 1929. He attended Bronx High School of Science and New York University (NYU), where he received both his undergraduate and law degrees. At NYU Law School, Buddy served on the Law Review and was a Root-Tilden Scholar, which provided full academic scholarships to students committed to public service, academic excellence, and leadership.

Buddy was relentlessly driven to support the rights, integrity and dignity of individuals and workers, no matter their background or socioeconomic status. He started his legal career in private practice with a focus on labor law. He was a partner or of-counsel to the law firms Hartman & Craven, Shea Gould, and Baker & Botts. He served for over 20 years, from the late 70’s through the late 90’s, as Outside Counsel to New York City’s largest municipal union, District Council 37 (DC37), which represented over 150,000 members and almost 60 separate union locals. Buddy’s wise counsel and advice were invaluable to New York City’s most influential labor leaders at that time, including Victor Gotbaum and Stanley Hill.

Buddy’s most exciting job, however, was from 1972-1974, when he served as Special Counsel to two Police Commissioners of New York City, Patrick Murphy and Don Cawley. The focus within the police force at that time was to implement reforms to root out and address widespread corruption which was revealed through the Serpico whistleblower affair. In his time serving on the police force, Buddy had a special “hotline” phone at home for the Commissioner's calls as well as ready access to a police car so he could get on-scene as quickly as possible.

Buddy was dedicated to civil rights. In the 1960’s, he served on the Lawyers Constitutional Defense Committee, which was associated with the American Civil Liberties Union, and on the Council of Federated Organizations, which played a key role in the civil rights actions known as Freedom Summer in Mississippi. He was based in Clarksdale, Mississippi and was responsible for legal work in the place where the bodies of murdered civil rights workers were found.

Aside from his many professional accomplishments, Buddy would say that his greatest joy in life came from his marriage to Marla Perkel. In the early 60's, Marla was a beautiful former dancer getting her master’s degree in Zoology (with a focus on genetics) at Columbia University. They met at a party where they arrived with separate dates. It was love at first sight, and they left the party together. They were inseparable from that point on, and were married shortly thereafter, on August 10, 1961.

Buddy and Marla spent their honeymoon in Provincetown and were married for over 61 years before Marla’s death in 2023. They raised their two daughters, Diana and Rachel, in New York City. The family summered in Wellfleet starting in 1970 and Buddy and Marla retired full-time to the Cape in 2002, first to Wellfleet, then Truro and then Provincetown.

Buddy loved the Cape community and was dedicated to community service the entire time he lived there. Buddy served on the Board of the Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (W.H.A.T.), Provincetown Theater, Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM) and was a decade-long volunteer (and bird watcher) at Wellfleet Audubon. Buddy also served for over a decade on the Truro Zoning Board of Appeals, including as Chair, and on a wide range of other committees and commissions in Truro.

Buddy was a lifelong adventurer and photographer, capturing key moments on trips around the world including Africa, India, South America, the Arctic and Mongolia. In his late 70’s, he spent over a month crossing the Sahara Desert. When he was 84, he went to see the Golden Eagle Festival in Mongolia. Just seven weeks before he died, at age 94, he went on a trip with his daughter, Rachel, to Yellowstone National Park, Montana and Wyoming, where one of his most treasured highlights was dog-sledding in the Grand Tetons.

Buddy loved the creative arts community on the Outer Cape and treasured his friends and neighbors in each of the towns in which he lived, especially at Seashore Point in Provincetown. After losing Marla, Buddy was wonderfully supported by his community and friends on the Cape. Our family will forever be grateful to his community for all their love and support up until the very end.

Buddy is survived by his daughters, Diana Perkel of Amesbury, Massachusetts; Rachel Perkel and husband Shawn Becker, of Burlingame, California; grandchildren Abigail and Aaron Becker; and niece Maria and husband Jacques Brand of Scarsdale, New York.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Massachusetts Audubon (please specify Wellfleet Bay Sanctuary), the Center for Coastal Studies or the Provincetown Art Association and Museum.

Date and details for a Celebration of Life to honor Buddy will be forthcoming.