Investment broker Bernard Van der Linden to be laid to rest on Sunday
BERNARD VAN DER LINDEN, an investment broker, died on Wednesday, September 30. He was 94.
BERNARD VAN DER LINDEN
He worked as a stockbroker and investment broker for 57 years, many of those years at Howard, Weil, Labouisse Friedrichs firm before retiring at the age of 84. He never fully retired from investing, as it remained a passion and an avocation until the day he died. He taught investment seminars around the world, including a class at sea aboard the QE II on a transatlantic crossing from New York to England.
He was proud to have been invited to attend many important investment conferences across the country and continued to follow all the latest bond and stock market news and trends. He served on many civic boards throughout his life, most recently the Audubon Nature Institute. He was an original Saints Season ticket holder who for more than 50 years enjoyed all the home games with family through lean times as well as the Super Bowl winning Saints era.
He was an avid tennis player for many years at City Park and the New Orleans Lawn Tennis Club. In recent years, he enjoyed playing competitive bridge at the Louisiana Bridge Center.
Van der Linden was born in Amsterdam, but moved to Brooklyn with his family when he was 7 years old. Growing up in Brooklyn, he worked hard as a young boy, shoveling snow, delivering newspapers on a paper route, and delivering groceries for the Syrian grocery store in the neighborhood.
He graduated from Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn and was invited to try out as a pitcher for the (then) New York Giants at the Polo Grounds before enlisting in the Army and serving in the Korean War. After completing his service he returned to Brooklyn and worked in advertising while completing his bachelor’s degree in business on the GI bill at New York University.
He was predeceased by his wife of 61 years, Elaine Lubel Van der Linden; his daughter Debra Van der Linden Sidelnik and his grandson, Ryan David Reaves.
He is survived by his daughters, Susan Reaves and Lisa Amann (Cary), his brother Jo Van der Linden (Barbara), his three grandchildren and a great grandson.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Deborah Van der Linden Sidelnik Fund for Youth at Touro Synagogue, the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, or the charity of your choice.
Touro Synagogue Senior Rabbi Katie Bauman officiated at a memorial service on Sunday, Oct. 4, at Lake Lawn Metairie Funeral Home, 5100 Pontchartain Blvd, at 2:30 p.m.
Interment followed immediately after the service in Hebrew Rest Cemetery No. 3.
