Daily post 27 Jan 2008 10:58 am
Jack Zander’s Memorial
- Yesterday, I was pleased to get a ride from Candy Kugel and companion, Chuck Hunnewell, to a memorial service for Jack Zander held in Pound Ridge NY. It was about an hour’s drive to the event, and we ended up being the first to arrive. The first sight on entering the Patterson Memorial Church was this photo of Jack (to the left) posted on the wall.
I’d expected one of those services wherein people seated listen to friends and family tell stories about the bereaved. It turned out to be a bit more of a party atmosphere.
There was a band preparing when we entered the room. They were set on a small stage to the rear of the room. It turns out that Jack had paid them to play at his 100th birthday party, and he died a bit short of that mark. So the band played for Jack at this event.
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In the adjoining room, there was a table set aside for a number of photos and a scrapbook which must have been presented to Jack at his 90th birthday. It was signed by all his friends and family. The book had a marker for the 95th birthday and another for the 98th.
The photos were good ones of Jack at some happy moments in his life. The motorcycle was obviously an important part of his life.
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I was a bit surprised to find relatively few animation people in attendance. It was predominantly family, and he had a large family. Lots of siblings and kids and grand kids. It was nice to see. However, it was the first time I met most of them, and it made me a bit shy about taking photos. I kept it to a minimum and tried not to act like an interloper.
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As I said, Chuck and Candy were kind enough to allow me to tag along with them. The only other animation people we saw were producer Buzz Potamkin, producer J.J. Sedelmeir, animator Doug Crane, and animator/instructor Donald Poynter.
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This is a shot of the band, above.
To the left, Mark Zander (back to us) chats with animator Doug Crane.
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We had to get back to the city for the second of the documentary features being screened for Academy members to vote. We made it just at the last moment. I’m glad I went to the event to see such a large and close family honoring Jack. I really didn’t know him well, but I felt obligated to pay my respects.
