Norman Fleishman, 92, longtime car dealer in Long Beach

Long before selling Fords and Lincolns and Mercurys at the family’s business, Fleishman Motors on Long Beach Road, Norman Fleishman learned to drive at 15 while working part-time at his dad’s gas station.

It was one of his milestones in Long Beach, where he met his wife in the third grade, raised their children, became a civic leader — and swam, surfed, lifeguarded, and just enjoyed the sand and water.

"If there’s a warm beach in heaven Dad is on it, resting well knowing he did his job leaving so many wonderful memories and legacies," his son Paul Fleishman, a retired Newsday executive, wrote in a message this week.

Norman Fleishman, 92, died Dec. 19 at his assisted-living apartment in Longmeadow, Massachusetts, from complications of Parkinson’s disease, with which he had been diagnosed about 10 years ago, according to his daughter, Jane Fleishman.

Fleishman Motors was one of the area’s major auto dealerships for close to 40 years beginning in the 1940s as Long Island grew into America’s first car suburb.

Norman Fleishman was born Jan. 3, 1928, at what was then called Long Beach Hospital. He was the eldest of two children of Morris and Ethel (Goulavitzia) Fleishman, Ashkenazi Jews from what was then Russia but is now in Moldova. Originally from Kishinev — site of one of the anti-Jewish riots known as pogroms, in the early 20th century — the couple came to United States in the 1920s on their honeymoon and stayed, Jane said.

First a chauffeur for the shoemaker I. Miller, Morris moved from New York City to Long Beach, known then as a wealthy community, seeking work in the 1920s, Jane said. The family moved to Chester Street. He sold baby carriages and bicycles. He also had a gas station, the one where Norman worked part-time while attending Long Beach High School and learned to drive in 1943.

There began Norman’s fondness for cars — his first was a 1946 Mercury, a white boxy coupe, license plate: F81.

By then, Norman had already met his future wife, Enid Stein, at East School in the third grade. He married her in 1949.

One time in high school, where he was a pole vaulter, he and his friends collected old newspapers, part of a widespread effort during World War II to salvage material that could be converted, including for paperboard containers to ship war supplies. He and the friends brought what they had amassed to a Brooklyn Dodgers game — and were awarded free tickets for their patriotism, Jane said.

He recalled years later, in a tribute made for his 90th birthday: "The only problem was that the game was on a school day, which meant we were playing hooky from school to be at the game."

They ended up getting photographed in the newspaper — and in trouble with the principal, who saw the coverage and summoned them to the office for a scolding.

Norman enlisted in 1945 in the U.S. Army and served for two years, graduated Hofstra University with a degree in business and joined his father’s automobile dealership, and with his brother, Stanley, built Fleishman Motors, on Long Beach Road.

Norman and Enid Fleishman lived on Harrison Street and in 1965 moved to Blackheath Road in Lido Beach.

In the 1970s, when the American auto market began to cede to Japanese-made cars and the economy sagged, Norman sold the dealership, and later started an auto-leasing business, Jane said.

In addition to being director of the metro area’s auto dealers association, Norman was president of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Lion’s Club; he chaired the Long Beach Planning Board; he was active in an organization for Jewish veterans of war; and was on the board of a local chapter of what is now called PFLAG, the organization for parents and families of LGBTQ people. He and Enid joined after his daughter, Jane, came out as a lesbian.

"They then met grandparents who were estranged from their children and grandchildren. My dad in particular used to sit down with these people and tell them they just had one life to make things right," Jane wrote in an email.

In addition to his wife, Enid, Fleishman is survived by children Paul Fleishman of Hauppauge, Peter Fleishman of West Windsor, Vermont, and Jane Fleishman of Northampton, Massachusetts; six grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren. His brother, Stanley, died in 2018, at 89.

There was a graveside burial Tuesday at Mount Ararat Cemetery in Lindenhurst. The family plans to hold a memorial service once the pandemic restrictions are relaxed.

In lieu of flowers, the family asked that donations be made to PFLAG and Autism Speaks.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.