Al Scott z"l (1918-2007)

I don't know why I like blogging about people that pass away. I think I just like telling stories, and death is quite a big story.

This time there is a very nice obit of my cousin Al in the Buffalo News. He was really a great guy. He had a wonderful sense of self-deprecatory humor and a deep love for kids and actually making their lives better.

When he was 86 he started a maritime charter school for urban students with an eye to entering the service when they finished. Many of them came from difficult backgrounds and one of the results was having to expel whole groups of kids at points. Many of the kids were pretty large and weren't really afraid of any of the school administrators, except Al. So one day he's called in and confronts one of these trouble makers in the hall. He takes the guy by his neck and tells him to shape up or else he's gonna get tossed. The kid's like, "You can't touch me, I'll call the cops." So Al's like, "They can only put me away for what, 3-4 years tops, but I can still mess you up pretty good." That was one of his cleaner stories.

It is so rare for frum kids to have family that use turn of phrases like "whiz bang thing" (see article above). It just changes who you are. I'm gonna miss him.

He didn't have any children, so if people wouldn't mind learning some minshayus for him, it would really be nice. As I don't know if I can get shas done, please try and sign up for Moed then Nashim then Nezikin and we can go from there. Shloshim.org "Albert Scott".