Louis Lederman<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
A native New Orleanian, Lederman enjoyed a career at the former Prudential\/Gardner Realtors and Gertrude Gardner Realty, specializing in the sale of historic homes and was a life member of the esteemed Million Dollar Club with designations from the Realtor Institute and the National Association of Realtors.<\/p>\n
Lederman also maintained a lifetime love of bicycling. He worked for several years at the Bikesmith, a bicycle shop on Tulane Avenue, where he learned to build and repair bicycles. More than 30 years ago, he and his sister Dottie rode across Europe for three and a half months on a tandem bicycle he built for the occasion.<\/p>\n
Over the course of many decades, he oftentimes billed himself as “Bicycle Louie,” especially when organizing charity events dealing with bicycling.<\/p>\n
He created his first such charity event in 1979 when he rode his bicycle for the Hunger Project, raising money for each mile he achieved in a three-day race from New Orleans to Houston. With another enthusiast, Lederman organized “Outspoken for Kids,” which was sponsored by the New Orleans Area Committee for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF).<\/p>\n
Lederman was cited by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Vanessa Redgrave for two years running as having raised the single most amount from any one person for his efforts. Among his events was the “Great Around the Lake,” a bike-a-thon in which he raced around Lakes Pontchartrain and Maurepas in an effort to eradicate childhood hunger and abuse.<\/p>\n
“I do this because it’s fun,” Lederman admitted once to a reporter. “Having it for charity is just an excuse, really.”<\/p>\n
Lederman regularly rode bicycles on several lengthy treks including one of 156 miles across Mississippi on a one-day pleasure ride with 35 fellow enthusiasts. He rode to the Rockies and back and accomplished a so-called “century,” a journey of 100 miles or more in a single day, on several occasions.<\/p>\n
A child of Holocaust survivors Abraham and Toby Lederman and sibling of Norma Grapes, who was born in a Displaced Persons Camp, all of blessed memory, Lederman was also involved with the New Orleans Holocaust Committee since its inception and was regularly called upon to lead attendees in the singing of both the Star Spangled Banner and Hatikvah at the opening of the Community Wide Yom Hashoah Memorials at the Uptown Jewish Community Center.<\/p>\n
Following grade school at Wilson School and the New Orleans Hebrew Academy, Lederman attended Eleanor McMain Jr. High School and was a 1971 graduate of Alcee Fortier High School, where he was a member of the German Club. He was a member of the Theta Theta Gamma Club and a member of Sigma Alpha Rho fraternity during high school.\u00a0 He also became a formidable ping pong player at that time. <\/span><\/p>\nLederman graduated from the University of New Orleans with a business degree and for several years became a history teacher, teaching at his former middle school when it was recast as McMain Magnet School.<\/p>\n
A lover of popular music and jazz, Lederman founded Bone Tone, a traditional pickup jazz ensemble that played regularly for special events, in Mardi Gras parades and at music festivals. With Lederman on snare drum, Bone Tone played music at several Selichot celebrations on the Saturday night immediately preceding Rosh Hashanah. He was also a longtime supporter of the annual B’nai B’rith Mardi Gras “Mitzvah Makers” indoor parade first held at Charity Hospital’s Pediatrics Ward, later relocated to Children’s Hospital and, more recently, continued at Touro Infirmary.<\/p>\n
Lederman also was a member of the Phunny Phorty Phellows, the group that ushers in the Carnival season each year while riding a streetcar along the historic St. Charles Avenue tracks. Lederman was selected as “the boss” several years ago and his honorary reign over the organization consisted of a coronation, the ride announcing Carnival, and continued up to the selection of the next year’s “boss.”<\/p>\n
A lifetime member of Congregation Anshe Sfard, Lederman is survived by his sister Dottie Shtafman (Steven) of Springfield, New Jersey, two nieces, a nephew and a great-niece as well as a girlfriend of 14 years, Susan Gingold. Graveside services were conducted by Rabbi David Polsky on Sunday, August 17 at Anshe Sfard Cemetery on Elysian Fields at 11:00 a.m. A shiva minyan service was held that evening at Anshe Sfard.<\/p>\n
Memorial contributions are suggested to UNICEF<\/a>.<\/p>\nIn addition a celebration of his life, “Louis-Fest!,” will be observed on October 19, 2014 at a site and time to be determined.<\/p>\n
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