Leslie Buck, designer of NYC coffee cup, dies

Leslie Buck's identity had been defined for years by New York City's iconic cardboard coffee cup, the Anthora. Created by Buck in the early 1960s to appeal to Greek restaurateurs then so prominent in the city, the blue-and-white cup, in some circles, is as Gotham as yellow taxis and the Empire State Building.

But Buck - born Laszlo Büch to a Jewish family in 1922 in then-Czechoslovakia - never made much fuss over his marketing masterpiece, his son said.

"He was well aware of that cup's popularity in New York City and pop culture aspects," said his son, Robert Buck of Danbury, Conn. "He was a modest man, and it never went to his head. But it definitely pleased him and made him happy."

Leslie Buck, whose disposable cup has carried New Yorkers' coffee for decades, died Monday of complications with Parkinson's disease, at an assisted living facility in Glen Cove, his family said. He was 87.

For most of his life, Buck lived in Syosset. He moved to Florida in 2004 and then back to Long Island in 2007 to be near family, his son said.

Buck's Anthora was so named for his Eastern European pronunciation of amphora, a jar used by the ancient Greeks and Romans.

A sales manager for the Sherri Cup Co. in Kensington, Conn., Buck's design was based on the colors of the Greek flag. Although he had no art training, he had enough vision to also use white meander near the lip and bottom, two amphoras and the words "We Are Happy To Serve You."

Buck did not have royalties but did so well in sales commissions that it was not an issue, said his son, an account executive with Sherri Cup for nearly 20 years.

Buck was a great father, said his son, but also was aware of his poor beginnings. He and his brother, Eugene, survived the Auschwitz and Buchenwald Nazi death camps. After World War II, they came to the United States, where Buck Americanized his name, and the brothers worked together in an import-export business.

"He came to this country with nothing, so he had to go out and make a couple of bucks," Robert Buck said. "He wasn't overly emotional, not really touchy-feely, to be honest."

Neither did Buck talk about his time in concentration camps nor the plight of his parents, who were killed by Nazis, his son said. "He went through it, and it must have been hell," he said. "He did not dwell on it, but that's how he was.

"That he could be such a good-hearted person with so little bitterness in his life is really amazing."

In addition to his son and his brother, Buck is survived by his wife of 61 years, Ella, of Glen Cove; daughters Beverly Eisenoff, of Charlotte, N.C., and Linda Rush, of Syosset; and four grandchildren.