Edward Glazer, man of heart and generosity, dies at 95
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Edward Glazer's hands said so much.
They were big hands for a man who wasn't overly big or tall. And whether they were tenderly holding the hands of his beloved wife of 71 years, clutched in a firm handshake more ironclad than any contract, or tilling the soil in his backyard garden, Mr. Glazer's hands communicated what was most important to him: his family, business and community.
"He had big hands and a warm heart," said Cantor Brad Kurland of Herzl-Ner Tamid, the Conservative synagogue on Mercer Island of which Mr. Glazer was a longtime member.
Mr. Glazer died Tuesday after a brief illness. He was 95.
Mr. Glazer, who founded Glazer's Camera in downtown Seattle in 1935 and was active in the local Jewish community, was well-known to many.
Bob Peterson, a freelance photographer in Seattle who has photographed sports stars such as Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, remembers Mr. Glazer and other employees at the store teaching him about cameras when he was an eager, young photographer.
When Peterson began establishing his own commercial photography business and had to buy expensive equipment, "I would go in and explain to Eddie it would be difficult to make payments this month. He'd say, 'Don't worry about it, feed your family. I know you're good for it.' ... He made it possible for me to work in town by always going along and helping out whenever he could."
Glazer's Camera had many such loyal clients among the professional photographers and serious amateurs to whom it catered. For years, Mr. Glazer provided the equipment for most of the commercial photographers, television stations and motion-picture production companies in the area, said operations manager Swan Mossberg.
Mr. Glazer usually conducted business with a handshake. "He made his deal and shook hands, and that was the deal," Mossberg said. "He came from a tradition where a handshake still meant something."
Mr. Glazer himself was not a professional photographer, but "he understood this was how one captured the major moments in life, and the mundane," said his daughter, Janet Lackman of Seattle. "He could've gone into (the jewelry business) or something, but he understood there was something magical about capturing those moments."
Mr. Glazer's generosity was also felt by a wider community.
He was part of a group that bought the property on Mercer Island that eventually became home to Herzl-Ner Tamid. And he contributed to a number of causes, including the Jewish Federation and those supporting the state of Israel. Mr. Glazer was modest about his giving, much of which he did anonymously.
"The highest form of charity in Judaism is to give anonymously," Lackman said. "He never required a lot of recognition or his name on a wall. ... There's a term in (Hebrew) called 'tsaddik,' which means someone who is just good and righteous. And that's the only way I can describe him."
"Over the years, people have come up to me and said, 'Do you know (Edward Glazer) helped my son pay his tuition?' " said Bob Lackman, Mr. Glazer's son-in-law.
Most important to Mr. Glazer was his family, to which he was fiercely devoted. When his wife, Sylvia, entered Caroline Kline Galland Home last year to receive more nursing care, Mr. Glazer had a driver take him there to visit her every day.
"They had a tremendous relationship," said Kurland, the cantor at Herzl-Ner Tamid. "They held hands all the time. No matter where, they held hands."
Janet Lackman and her sister, Sandra Glazer Lake of Bellevue, both have memories of running around the camera store when they were children, being given little jobs, Lackman said. "We always went to keep him company. We were always included."
At Mr. Glazer's service Thursday, people extolled his good heart.
Lackman will also remember her father's hands. "They were big, strong and soft — just the way he was."
In addition to Sylvia Glazer, the Lackmans, Lake and her partner, Dennis Wilkins, Mr. Glazer's survivors include seven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests remembrances be made to Medic One, Caroline Kline Galland Home, Herzl-Ner Tamid or a charity of one's choice.