1929 – 2017
Robert was the son of Adolph, a grandson of Rabbi Isak HaCohen Frankl, and Elsie Doerner. He was born and grew up in New York. He was not old enough to be involved in WWII but was called up into the army and fought in the Korean War. He made many friends in the army and became involved in the Rockland County chapter of the Korean War Veterans and eventually became their President. His younger brother Gerald joined the US Navy. Both boys studied and graduated from New York University.
Robert met and married Rhea, the daughter of Jack and Cecile Kantner. Rhea was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in New Haven, Connecticut. She got a double degree in English and Social Work at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and started working as an administrative assistant in personnel at the Winchester Division of Olin Industries during summer vacations in New Haven. Upon graduation she was sent to Manhattan to work in Olin’s Executive Central Personnel offices. During Labour Day weekend of 1957, she went to the shore with friends and met Robert, who gave her and her friends a ride home from the beach. They became very good friends, fell in love and were married on April 5, 1959 in New Haven. They moved to Riverdale, New York, where their children, Steven (1960), Tamara (1963) and Joshua (1966) were born.
Robert began to work as a manufacturer’s representative for tanneries in the U.S., Spain and France. In 1968 the family moved to the town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. The local community became involved in a dispute with an ultra-orthodox Jewish group who wanted to build a large number of homes within an area that only had permits for a limited number of homes, due to the fact that part of the property was wetland. Robert and Rhea became involved in the opposition and eventually they formed the Willow Tree Civic Association, which successfully fought off the development plan. The Town of Ramapo was eventually persuaded to allow for the incorporation of a new village to be called Wesley Hills, and Robert became its first Mayor. He held the office for twenty-five years, retiring in 2008. Robert and Rhea also became fond of spending time in South Florida on vacation during the winter months. They eventually bought a home in Boynton Beach in 2010 and moved there permanently in 2012. Their elder son Steven and his wife Maria Caridad live close by. Robert passed on May 24, 2017 at the age of 87. The Village of Wesley Hills held a Memorial Service in his honor in October of that year and named the village hall as “The Robert H. Frankl Village Hall.”
