c/o Zabar’s
Stanley Zabar, the co-owner who helped steer Zabar’s for decades from behind the scenes, died Monday, November 9 at 94.
The Upper West Side store shared the news Tuesday in an Instagram post, calling him “a quiet force behind our family business.”
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Born August 19, 1932, Stanley spent decades alongside his brother Saul, building on what their parents, Louis and Lillian Zabar, started in 1934. Saul died at 97 just over a year ago.Stanley spent his career on the legal and financial side of the business. The family said that work was “vital in shaping Zabar’s into a beloved New York City institution.”
The business grew from a small fish counter to five shops, which were eventually combined into the one sprawling market at West 80th and Broadway, as ABC7 recounted. It is now famous for its smoked fish, cheese, coffee and babka.
Outside the store, Stanley and his wife, Judith, gave generously to the city. According to the family, the couple supported the arts, education and culinary training, with gifts to Hunter College, the New York Public Library, Symphony Space, NYU Langone Health and the Careers through Culinary Arts Program.
He was also a neighbor. A lifelong New Yorker, Stanley raised his family with Judith on the Upper West Side, the same neighborhood generations of Zabars have called home.
His daughter Sandy said the store was always where she could find him.
“Walking into the store made me feel like I was close to him,” she told CBS New York. “My dad was a remarkable man and lived 94 incredible years, and built an amazing family business.”
His funeral is set for Wednesday at Riverside Memorial Chapel on the Upper West Side, CBS reported.
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