[Antiracism] [WMJwJ] Sam Freedman

[WMass Jobs With Justice]

All our love goes out to Peggy and family on the loss of a dear friend to
Western Mass. Jobs with Justice.  

Our May Day program will be dedicated to Sam.  Andrea Ayvazian and Rick
Fantasia will read Peggy and Sam, talking about the 1948 Wallace
Presidential Campaign in Western Mass.  

There will be a memorial for Sam on Sunday May 18 at 2pm at the Lord Jeffrey
Inn, 30 Boltwood Avenue, Amherst.

Daily Hampshire Gazette 
Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Sam Freedman of Amherst died peacefully at the Hampshire Rehabilitation
Center in Northampton on Friday after a short illness.

Sam was the second of four boys. Born in Chelsea in 1915, son of the late
Frank and Bessie Freedman, Sam was a graduate of Taunton High School, after
which he attended Boston University.

Sam founded Pioneer Furniture in Springfield. He closed the store in 1975
after which he and his wife, Margola (Peggy) Freedman, started Lyman Books,
selling used and rare books on the theater from their home in Tolland.

While in Springfield, Sam was very active in civic and cultural affairs. He
was a founder of the Furniture Dealers Association of Springfield. He was
one of the founders of Stage West, the resident professional theater, in
1965. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Edward Bellamy Society
in Chicopee.

Sam loved books and the arts. Before becoming a full-time bookseller, he
formed major collections of the works of American author Mark Twain (now
housed at a university in Japan) and Irish author George Bernard Shaw (now
housed at Boston College), as well as collections of the works of American
playwright Arthur A. Miller, English artist Aubrey Beardsley, the works of
his friend the artist Leonard Baskin, and his Gehenna Press, about the
French Emperor Napoleon. He wrote an arts column for the Springfield Herald
under the pen name of J.C. Middlebrough, and during the summers of his later
years, he took time to write theater reviews for the Bravo Monthly.

Sam will be remembered for his passionate political views, perspicacious
dissection of the events of the day, dedication to political and economic
justice, his sense of humor, and love of a good joke.

Besides his wife, Peggy, of Amherst, he leaves his brother, Albert, and
wife, Nancy, of Greenbrae, California; son Marc and his wife, Lois, and
their children, Maura and Kara, of New York City; son Russell and his wife,
Martha, and children, Neal and Rebecca, of Lanesborough; and daughter Robin
Luberoff and her children, Jesse and Eli, of Amherst.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The Rosenberg Fund for
Children, 116 Pleasant St., Easthampton, MA 01027, or to The Edward Bellamy
Society, 91-93 Church St., Chicopee, MA 01020. The Ahearn Funeral Home in
Northampton is in charge of arrangements.




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