Special Tribute

Max Heine was a giver. He gave because he felt it was the right thing to do; because he cared deeply about other people; and because not giving was not an option for him. Max was born in 1911 in Berlin. His father was a doctor and his mother’s family owned a large factory that manufactured automobiles, motorcycles and munitions. As a teenager, he rode the company motorcycles, and when he wrecked one, he simply got a new one. He wasn’t much of a student. The comments on his report card ranged from “nicht genügend” (not sufficient) to “mangelhaft”(unsatisfactory) to “genügend” (sufficient). Max was considered the black sheep of the family,and not only because of his grades. He was distressed by the social inequities of the day. While studying law-not very successfully-at the University of Heidelberg in the late 1920’s, he became seriously involved in leftwing politics. A family rumor alleged that he tried to organize the workforce at the family factory. True or not, it suggests where his sympathies lay. In the early 1930’s he was arrested for his activities with anti-Nazi organizations, which turned out to be a stroke of good fortune. He saw the writing on the wall and in 1933 abandoned his law< studies and emigrated to the U.S. Many of his relatives were not so lucky.

In America, Max had to start at the bottom. His first job was as a salesman for women’s haberdashery and men’s neckties. He wasn’t much of a salesman, and if he knew anything about fashion, he kept it well concealed. Soon he moved on to a job as a runner in a Wall Street brokerage firm. He had no idea that within a few decades he’d be known as “The Dean of Wall Street.”

It was around this time that he fell in love with Lotte Hirsch, another German émigré. They married in 1938 and remained inseparable until her death almost 50 years later. They had three daughters, Doris, Karin and Peggy, and lived in the same house in Roslyn for 40 years.

Max flourished on Wall Street, first by helping many of his fellow émigrés invest their savings, then by spotting value in the bonds of bankrupt companies. In 1949 he took over the leadership of Mutual Shares, a pioneering mutual fund. He later became chairman of Herzog, Heine, Geduld, and chairman of Heine Securities. No matter how brilliantly he maneuvered in the world of capitalism, Max never cared all that much about money. He cared about people. He always thought of the stock market as a game; he enjoyed the game immensely, but it didn’t make him feel bigger or smarter or worthier than anyone else, and it was never the most important thing in his life. He was an incredibly loyal friend, a loving husband and father, a doting grandfather. He considered himself a very lucky man, and he wanted to help others. He never thought of it as a sacrifice; he just thought of it as the thing to do, as natural as getting up in the morning. And Blue Card was the perfect fit-helping people like him, but less fortunate.

A Tribute

Mark Warren Babyatsky, M.D.

(June 29, 1959 – August 25, 2014)

Leo was a long-time President of the National Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors (NAHOS), and author of the NAHOS Newsletter. His thorough and professional journalistic devotion to informing the survivor community, public officials and other dignitaries about survivors’ affairs, made the NAHOS Newsletter the authoritative voice of grass roots Holocaust survivors in the United States. Along with his passion to inform, protect, and assist Holocaust survivors, Leo approached every issue deliberately, and with intelligence and wisdom. So, when Leo took a stand to protect and advance survivors’ rights, interests, and needs, those on the other side were invariably outmatched, and knew it.

Just one year after The Blue Card Foundation honored Elie Wiesel, in 2016 Leo was awarded the same honors for his extraordinary contributions to support impoverished survivors, and his support of the Blue Card’s important mission of providing direct financial assistance to needy Holocaust survivors.

Leo was born to Jossel and Jyte Rechter, in Vienna, Austria, in 1927. Following Kristallnacht, and after a brutal beating of his father by local authorities, Leo and his family fled their home in Vienna, escaping to Brussels, Belgium, leaving all their worldly possessions behind.

Following the Nazi invasion of Belgium, his father was captured and ultimately transferred to the Auschwitz death camp, where he was killed. After the loss of his father at age 12, Leo spent the rest of the War in Brussels in hiding, as the sole support for his family. There they remained, running from secret place to secret place. Always just ahead of the Gestapo and local authorities, they were almost apprehended a number of times, but for Leo’s cunning and in some cases blind fortune. Because of his light complexion, blond hair and blue-eyes, Leo avoided capture by the Nazis when out, by effectively hiding in plain sight. Leo always put his mother and 2 younger siblings first, doing everything he could to provide for them and keep them safe. Among other things, to try and support the family he sold black market bread, old clothing that his mother and sister refurbished at home, and peddled cigarettes made from discarded butts. After the war, Leo went to Israel, where he met the love of his life, Fortunee (Toni), who had previously fled to Israel from Iraq. In 1958, Leo and Fortunee decided to seek out a new life in the United States, and moved to New York, were married, and started a new life together.

Leo’s final decades of hard work, focusing solely on those in need who could not ably represent themselves, epitomized all that is still good with humanity. Those who knew him, share his family’s everlasting respect, pride and deep appreciation for all that he has selflessly given to help others.