Alan and I grew up together. We were destined to be friends. Our mothers had met each other during WWII at canteens for military personal soon to defend our country. Almost  a decade later they both ran into each other again in the 4th floor of an apartment house in Flushing, Queens. When my Coop opened in 1952 both families moved onto the fourth floor and our mothers met as they were throwing away the day’s trash in the incinerator room.

Alan was a year behind me in school, but two years ahead of my brother Howard. The three of us traveled together, sometimes in our younger years accompanied by the now infamous Louis Pearlman.

Alan loved media (music, the press, TV, etc,) blimps and the Firesign Theatre. As teenagers we made parodies of TV shows, after college he worked as intern at a local TV station. He video taped performances of the Firesign Theatre, artist Jim Dawson, airships (check out his YouTube channel AirshipAl). He eventually became a subject master expert on lighter than air vehicles and spoke at various gatherings. The collection he amassed was sought after by  several institutes and he eventually bequeathed it to the University of Akron.

Alan’s collection of blimp memorabilia was the subject of a podcast exploring his donation of lighter-than-air memorabilia to the University of Akron. In August 2021, David Peterkofsky, responsible to the “For Keeps” podcast, and I spoke. He asked questions about Alan, and I provided him some of my memories of my friend. To my surprise, and enjoyment, they formed the bulk of the narration of the podcast featuring Alan’s collection.