Bellmore resident, Merrick orthodontist dies at 73

Editor’s note: The following obituary was submitted by Emily Schreiber for her husband, Leonard, a resident of Bellmore whose orthodontics practice was in Merrick for decades.

On Nov. 7, my husband, Dr. Leonard (a.k.a. Len) Schreiber, lost his long and courageous battle against AML leukemia. His funeral service took place at Gutterman's Funeral Home in Rockville Centre, and his military burial was held at Wellwood Cemetery on Nov. 13. Since he was an Air Force veteran, taps was played and I was presented with the American flag that had draped his coffin.

If a funeral could be beautiful, his was. The sun was shining, and there was a slight nip in the air. The chapel was full of family, friends, and colleagues, and many of them attended the burial at the cemetery. That was comforting to my family and me.

During my son Mike's eulogy, he said of his father, "He entered every room with a smile and a hand-shake, and he made people feel special. He told his arsenal of jokes to every single person he came in contact with –– every single person. If you were within a 50-yard radius of him, he'd find you and he would talk to you. He had a gift for finding common ground with just about everyone, and he made people feel special and interesting."

It was that aspect of his personality, coupled with the expertise of his craft, that enabled him to be the caring and dedicated orthodontist that he was for more than 40 years. His patients –– children as well as adults –– entered his offices in Merrick and Bellmore with crooked teeth, and after several years of treatment, they had beautiful smiles.

Back in the late 1960s, when he opened his orthodontic practice, his office was at 1 Merrick Ave. It was in an old building that stood where there is now a parking lot across from the Merrick Cinema. It was so close to the Long Island Rail Road that when a train went by, the building shook. The patients seemed to enjoy that! A short time later, an office space opened across Merrick Avenue, next to C & R Grand. His former orthodontic partner, Dr. Sabeeh Khan, continues to make beautiful smiles there, at 28 Merrick Ave.