By Doug Miller
The cause was complications following surgery, a city official said.
Ungar retired from the city in 1992 after filling a number of jobs, beginning as a zoning board commissioner in 1952. He returned to work as a consultant in 2004, handling the city's many tax certiorari appeals. He was at his desk in City Hall as recently as last week. "For the $20,000 a year we were paying him as a consultant, he saved us a fortune," said Councilman Jim Hennessy.
Ungar went to work for his adopted city after graduating from Syracuse University and Brooklyn Law School. He was born in the Bronx but moved to Long Beach when he was 14, according to friends, and never left.
He began working part-time in the city's tax assessor's office in 1956 while practicing law on the side. He later served as assistant corporation counsel and tax assessor, often shuffling back and forth between the positions, from 1967 to 1992.
Ungar is survived by a brother and sister as well as a daughter, Bassie Friedman of Monsey, N.Y., and seven grandchildren. His former wife, Wendy, predeceased him.
A 20-year member of the Long Beach Lions Club, Ungar would have been elected a vice president this month, according to Lions Chairman Robert Carroll. "Sam was always involved in helping people," Carroll said. "... He would work for and attend every fund-raiser.
"Around Thanksgiving, when the Lions and St. Mary's put together turkey baskets for the needy, Sam would collect food in front of Waldbaum's and Associated for hours on end," Carroll recalled. "Even this past year, when he was in pain. He stayed involved right until the end, always there to help people."
Besides his civic work, friends said, Ungar was devoted to his family. "His daughter discovered her faith when she was 17 or 18 and became a Lubavitcher," said City Manager Edwin Eaton, who worked with Ungar for nearly 30 years. "Sam was just a, you know, a regular Jewish guy. But he had to go and interview with the rebbe, they had to approve the family. So he and I, as the token gentile, went down to Temple Israel at the time and we took Hebrew lessons together."
Eaton said City Hall would not be the same without Ungar, and that the loss would be felt most by the people in the tax office. "He was my buddy, professionally and personally," said Maureen Coyle, the city's associate tax assessor. "He's going to be terribly missed."
Coyle demurred, however, when asked to relate her favorite story about Ungar. "I don't know if any of them could be published," she said with a hearty laugh. "He was so funny, and just the best person in the world. And legally, he was brilliant. I will tell you something you can quote me on: He was a true renaissance man."
To be sure, Ungar came from the old school of Long Beach politics: He was a devoted Democrat who worked alongside the men who would shape the Long Beach of the 1970s and 1980s. "We lost a good guy," said Larry Elovich, a former Democratic leader who is now chairman of the Chamber of Commerce. "In 1961 we were both part of the insurgent movement to depose the Democratic leader, Judge Robert Kleiner. Sam was a committeeman, as I was, and we ousted the incumbent in 1967, and Sam was very loyal to me, and to every leader who followed me. He represented the essence of the Democratic party, and I remember he said to me at one time he couldn't vote for a Republican, saying 'Lightning would strike me' if he did. Very loyal."
Ungar was particularly close to Harvey Weisenberg, who served on the City Council in the 1970s and 1980s before being elected to the Assembly in 1989. "This man had a true love for our city," Weisenberg said. "He was extremely bright, academically bright."
When asked for a more personal recollection of Ungar, Weisenberg gave a conspiratorial laugh. "We need to keep this positive, and he was a great, brilliant man. ... He was something of a Damon Runyon character. He loved to gamble. He was a controlled gambler, but loved to bet. OTB. Cards. He was colorful. He did his job, he served the community and he loved to have a good time."
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