Loeb / Blank Family Papers

Walter Loeb was born in Dusseldorf, Germany on August 16, 1913, to Jakob Loeb and Martha Blank Loeb. He was active in the Jewish Boy Scouts from 1927-1934. In the summer of 1934, Walter was arrested by Stormtroopers, then rescued by a police officer (a friend of the family), and enabled to cross the border into Holland without seeing his family again. He moved to the US in December 1934 and enrolled in night school to improve his English. In the winter of 1938, he met his future wife Florence while on a vacation at Grossinger’s Resort in the Catskills. Both of them coincidentally worked at Macy’s at the time. On April 29, 1938, Walter and Florence were secretly married to facilitate an immigration procedure for Walter’s mother. The couple were married by a Rabbi on August 14, 1938. After several years working at Macy’s, Walter joined the National Department Store Trade Association, as Assistant Manager of the Controller’s Congress, the group’s research division. In 1948, he headed a similar operation at the NRFA, the National Retail Furniture Association. Following a job offer, Walter and his family moved to Houston, Texas, in 1952. Though the position did not work out, Walter eventually joined CONOCO, the Continental Oil Company, as a Research Analyst in Marketing. He worked there for 25 years until his retirement in 1978. Walter passed away in 2000.

Florence Loeb was born on October 7, 1914 in New York City to Philip and Sara Kohl. She worked at Macy’s for several years until the family’s move to Houston. In Texas, Florence worked at Foley’s, becoming a buyer, and later for Craig’s. She passed away on January 14, 2016. Florence and Loeb were both involved in volunteering, particularly at S.E.A.R.C.H (Service of the Emergency Aid Resource Center of Houston). They also funded facilities for elderly citizens and established a college scholarship fund in memory of their late son Douglas.

Douglas Loeb was born on January 25, 1945, in Houston, Texas. He attended Bellaire High School, and was a member of the Explorer Post 190, an Eagle Scout troop, earning the position of president of the Explorer Cabinet of the Boy Scouts for the Buffalo District. He was also a member of the Silverman AZA, B’nai B’rith young men’s organization. Douglas was diagnosed with Leukemia in 1961 and succumbed to the illness on April 10, 1962.