May he RIP : (
Albany
In September 1993, the Arbor Hill Community Center was about to shutter its doors. A welcome respite for youths in one of the city's roughest neighborhoods, the center owed the Internal Revenue Service nearly $10,000. The IRS froze the center's assets. They needed help, quick.
That's when Richard Englander stepped in.
He gave a check covering most of the center's debt. Englander had no connection to the community center. Picturing the destructive, potentially violent
fallout from its closure was enough of a driving force.
"If what we could do to help would prevent one teen pregnancy, one murder, one child from getting involved in drugs, or one young woman from getting raped, then it's worth it," Englander told the Times Union in 1993 after making the donation.
Twenty-one years later, those who knew Englander best are thinking of his unwaveringly generous spirit as they try to cope with his shocking death. A
few days after Englander, 79, was killed in what police say was a grisly attack at the hands of a woman tasked with caring for him, friends and neighbors also spoke about Englander's distinguished military career, his smarts, quick wit and gentle spirit.
"If there was ever a gentleman, he was it," said Angelina Reed, one of Englander's closest friends over for the past two decades. "Never, ever in all
those years, did he ever breathe a nasty remark about anyone, even if they were nasty."
Reed, other close friends and family attended private services for Englander on Sunday at Congregation Beth Emeth.
Englander died Thursday at Albany Medical Center Hospital. He was rushed there after police said Sara Moore, Englander's recently hired home aide, cut Englander's throat and beat him. Moore, police said, had tried to cash one of Englander's checks earlier Thursday. The bank called to tell Englander, and Moore allegedly began to fight with the man while the bank was still on the line. After attacking Englander, who used a wheelchair, Moore went back to
the bank to cash another check, but was arrested soon after. Moore was charged Friday with second-degree murder and is being held without bail at
Albany County jail.
Neighbors of Englander said he suffered from multiple sclerosis and had other health aides over the years. But in New Scotland Woods, the well-kept,
typically tranquil development in which Englander lived for years, said they never saw nor spoke to Moore. Here, Englander was known as a quiet man who mostly kept to himself, but in his limited interactions was exceeding friendly and sharp for his age. Every December, he sent Christmas cards to
neighbors. He ordered ice cream, burgers and fish from Steve Kohinke, who lives next door and works for a frozen foods company.
"He was a very nice old guy," said Kohinke. "Very agreeable, mild-mannered."
Sunday, a bouquet of red and green flowers lay in the snow next to a tree on Englander's lawn. A handwritten note protected in plastic read, in part,
"May your life now be free of pain + suffering. ... We will not forget U."
Englander was born in Kingston. He attended the Manilus School and graduated from Siena College. He served as a first lieutenant in the Army, and received awards for his service. Reed, Englander's longtime friend, said Englander kept a deep sense of patriotism with him his entire life, becoming involved with veterans affairs. A sticker that reads "Home of the free because of the brave" is the lone decoration on Englander's front door. Englander was
buried Sunday with military honors and the playing of taps, Reed said.
After his military career, Englander ran Architects Hardware & Specialty Company Inc., an Albany-based outfit specializing in high-end door and
furniture fixtures. At a time when many small businesses were closing, Englander worked hard to keep his company running, Reed said.
"He didn't want to see his employees out of work," Reed said. "He was very, very strong and determined. He never complained, never bellyached. He took things as they were presented to him, his illness and whatever else."
Englander was also a man of the arts and the mind. His wife, Dorothy, is an accomplished local artist. Englander was a lover of fine arts as well and also wrote poetry, Reed said. The couple, who had four children, were not living together at the time of Englander's death.
While in college, Englander was invited to study at world-renowned Oxford University for a semester. While there, he wrote a poem that was published by the school. Titled "Our Guide" it read, in part:
"The bells ring and gone the sun/ they tell us that our day is done/ night is here it's time to rest/ and think of how today we were blessed. ...The bells
have tolled and now we lay/ and think of what to him we'll say/ One thing which shouldn't seem so odd/ is love mankind and thank you God."
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