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Architect-Designer Dies Two Weeks After Brutal Mugging
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 17, 2011
Modified Jun 17, 2011
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courtesy of Oscar Abramovitz
By
Ben Yakas
Published Jun 17, 2011
Modified Jun 17, 2011
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A respected architect and designer whose work is in the permanent collection of MoMA died yesterday, two weeks after he was beaten during a mugging. South African-born architect Gerald Abramovitz, 82, was best known for his minimalist cantilever desk lamp, which he made for Best & Lloyd, and which is featured in MoMA. "He was a very dynamic, creative, charming person. He had the exuberance of an 18-year-old, and he was still designing," his friend Gene Koretz told the WSJ.
Abramovitz was ringing the buzzer to his friend's W. 89th Street apartment near Central Park West on May 25th when the attacker approached him from behind and hit him, knocking him to the ground. "I found him on the floor of the vestibule bleeding. His shirt was soaked in blood," Koretz told the News. Abramovitz's wallet was lying nearby—the mugger must have been disappointed to learn there was no money in it. He was taken to the hospital, but released immediately: “I was surprised he was walking around. He was wobbling and shuffling and he wasn’t functioning normally. I believe he should have been under medical watch,” said Peter Mauro, 75, a neighbor who lived in Abramovitz’s East Harlem building.
A few days later, he went back to the hospital for dizziness, discovered he had brain hemorrhaging, and fell into a coma for nearly two weeks. His friends blame the mugger for his death: “This was a predator. He saw an old man. He picked Gerald out as a mark," said Koretz. Police and friends are offering $5,000 reward for any info leading to the capture of the mugger.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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