Irving Halpern, entrepreneur and community stalwart, dies at 98

In his late 80s, Irving J. Halpern traveled to Washington, D.C., to see his grandson vie in a business plan competition as a student at George Washington University.

“He found tremendous excitement in the fact that I was so interested in running my own business while I was still in college,” said Jon Halpern, now 33, who would turn his winning idea into a successful company. “It was incredibly meaningful to me, now as much as then, that he wanted to be there.”

Irving Halpern was an active presence in the lives of his three grandchildren, two sons, and extended family and friends, offering encouragement and advice and leading by example until his death at age 98 at his Oakland home March 21.

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“If I told him I was meeting someone on a certain day, he’d call at 5 p.m. to ask how ‘How’d the meeting go?’” recalled Jon Halpern. “If I missed his voicemail, he’d be very persistent in getting a call back. He wanted to be fully engaged in our lives.”

Following in the footsteps of his own father, Julius Halpern — a self-made immigrant who settled in Pittsburgh at age 17 — Irving Halpern graduated from Shady Side Academy and The Wharton School and became an entrepreneur across a broad spectrum of endeavors, including J. Halpern Company and Hi Ho Products toy manufacturing, TeleCheck financial services and Ellsworth Mews real estate development.

“I nicknamed him ‘the idea man,’ because he was always coming up with something new, whether it was a product or a creative way to solve a problem,” Jon Halpern said. “And that was well into his retirement.”

Five years ago, when cooking became challenging for Irving Halpern and Caryl, his wife of 70 years, he placed an ad in the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle for someone to prepare and serve their meals, Jon Halpern recalled. “The one person who responded has been with them ever since, as a wonderful friend to them and everyone in our family.”

“That’s who my grandfather was: ‘I have an idea. How do I make it happen?’”

A sense of wonder drove much of Irving Halpern’s success, said his son and business partner Steve Halpern, 68. “My dad was very curious, and he was blessed with a good mind. He was a smart guy.”

Steve Halpern honed his entrepreneurial skills when he began working with his father on TeleCheck in his mid-20s and found him to be an ongoing source of inspiration.

“He was a builder and a designer,” Steve Halpern said. “He liked starting with a blank slate — with less formed things — and making something out of them.”

He expressed his creative bent in his private life as well, taking up painting, particularly watercolors, as a young man and becoming a collector of contemporary art. Through his wife and his son Jeff Halpern, both accomplished pianists, Irving Halpern cultivated a love of music.

Jeff Halpern recalled his father and mother coming to hear him play with a jazz band at the Black Magic Lounge in Oakland when he was just 16. “All of a sudden in walked George Benson,” Jeff Halpern said of the legendary guitarist/vocalist. “He was brought up on stage to perform ‘This Masquerade,’ which was his big hit. It was an exciting moment for my father and me that I got to accompany him.”

Irving Halpern was as pragmatic as he was imaginative, Steve Halpern said, “and he brought uncompromising integrity to every endeavor.”

In his eulogy at Rodef Shalom Congregation, Jeff Halpern cited honesty, fairness, loyalty, generosity and self-respect as the values that guided his father’s personal and business dealings.

“They have come into play the most for me as a father myself, with all that’s going on in the world,” said Jeff Halpern, 66, who works in the financial industry and lives in Weston, Connecticut.

His son Alexander Halpern, 21, and Irving Halpern share a Feb. 3 birthdate, which the Halpern family gathered to celebrate every year, typically at Irving and Caryl Halpern’s Palm Beach home.

Other special memories include Jeff Halpern’s bar mitzvah at Congregation Beth Shalom, a synagogue where Irving Halpern’s father was an early leader. The Halpern family’s history of philanthropy and community service dates to 1907.

“Irv was passionate about the local Jewish community and Israel,” said Federation President and CEO Jeff Finkelstein, who worked with Irving Halpern when he chaired the allocations committee.

“He was from one of the great generations of Federation leadership, who understood the importance of having an unrestricted annual campaign to support the core needs of the Jewish community.”

His head for figures was remarkable, Finkelstein said. “He was sharp as a tack.”

Grants to Federation have come from the Halpern Foundation, which was created in 1952 by Irving Halpern’s parents and includes multiple generations of the family.

Eileen Lane, Irving Halpern’s niece and a longtime Foundation trustee, lauded her uncle’s “long, full life” and inspiring legacy.

“It’s the passing of an era,” she said. “It now falls heavily on us to continue with the values we learned and with helping others.” PJC

Deborah Weisberg is a freelance writer living in Pittsburgh.