Thursday, October 1, 2026
Leonard Kornblum, who founded the Lynbrook-based C&L Plumbing Supply, Inc. in 1980, died on Nov. 18 of natural causes. He was 92.
“With great sadness, we announce the passing of our founder, Leonard Kornblum, the ‘L’ in C&L Plumbing,” read an email the company sent to customers on Nov. 19.
Kornblum was born in Brooklyn in 1926 and grew up in the Bronx. He served as a mechanical engineer in the United States Navy during World War II before he met his future wife Carol Wolfson. The couple raised three sons in Laurelton, Queens, and then moved to Oceanside in 1968.
Kornblum’s family described him as a hard worker. When his son, Barry, was growing up, he said Leonard worked as a plumbing foreman for the Manhattan-based L. Farbman & Sons. When he would return to their family’s Oceanside home, Barry recalled that his father often helped his neighbors with their plumbing issues for free.
“He’d be gone for three hours helping out his neighbors,” Barry said. “My dad was a great, hard-working person.”
In 1980, Leonard and Barry started their own plumbing company. That year, C&L Plumbing, named for Carol and Leonard, opened up shop on Sunrise Highway in Lynbrook. The company then moved to Denton Avenue and upon his father’s retirement in 1993, Barry moved the store to its current location, on Merrick Road.
Barry and his wife, Joan now run the store. Their daughter, Stephanie Kornblum Knight, is the company’s marketing director and oversees the showroom. “We have people who come into the store who were there when [Leonard] started the business,” Joan said. “They say, ‘We knew him way back when.’”
Leonard was predeceased by Carol, who died in 2013. He is survived by his three sons Andrew, Barry and Lloyd; six grandchildren; and one great-grandchild. A funeral was held on Nov. 23 followed by his burial at the Mount Ararat Cemetery in Lindenhurst.
