A man of ‘respect and dignity’

Oceanside resident Peter Stone, a Holocaust survivor who used to speak to Long Island students about his experiences, died on April 6, of lung disease. He was 80.

Stone was born on May 13, 1931, in Budapest, Hungary. He lived there with his family until he was 13, when the Nazis invaded Hungary, rounded up all of the Jewish citizens and sent them to concentration camps. Stone was sent to Auschwitz and then to Dachau.

After his liberation from Dachau, Stone spent time in a displaced children’s camp while workers tried to find his family. Unfortunately, all of his relatives had died in the camps.

Stone continued his schooling in England, but never finished high school or attended college. In 1950, he learned that he had a cousin living in New York. She paid for him to immigrate to the United States. He eventually found a job at Saks Fifth Avenue where, in 1952, he met his future wife, Evelyn Gralnick.

“We actually met at a dance at Kew Garden Hills,” Evelyn recalled. “We just recognized one another [from work].” The two were married on Sept. 11, 1954.

The couple lived in Kew Gardens for 10 years, where they had two sons, Paul and Jay. They moved to Oceanside in the early 1960s and lived there ever since.

Stone worked as an interior designer and opened his own business. He semi-retired about 13 years ago, but continued working. “He was working up until the time he got sick,” said Evelyn. “And even then he was working.”

In Oceanside, Stone was a longtime active member of the Oceanside Jewish Center, serving as an officer and working as an usher at synagogue.

“I think the most significant thing is that he is the last member of my congregation who was a [Holocaust] survivor,” said Rabbi Mark Greenspan. “So for us, this is a real transition, if you will. Because he really represented the importance of memory. And to lose him on Passover, in particular, which is so much about memory, it really was very significant.”

Making sure that people understood and remembered what happened during the Holocaust was very important to Stone. “Peter Stone was one of our beloved survivors who spoke to hundreds of students over the course of his time here at the center,” said Dr. Sarah Cushman, director of youth education at the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County, in Glen Cove. “He really touched their lives through his testimony.” Stone volunteered at the center for at least 10 years, Cushman said.

He was known by everyone he met for his kindness. Jay Stone said that his father would do anything for his family. “My father was petrified of German shepherds,” Jay wrote in his eulogy. “But when Paul and I wanted one for a pet, there was a German shepherd in the house.”

“We had 200 people [at the funeral], so you can imagine how loved he was,” Jay told the Herald. “The whole room was packed.”

Stone was remembered by many people for his willingness to help and his generous spirit. “I think he really, in so many ways, embodied the kind of lessons that we try to impart to young people,” said Cushman. “Which is that, even if you’re in a situation where there’s conflict, you can interact with the other person with respect and dignity. And I think those were two words that really applied to him: respect and dignity.”