In the course of his travels, he did countless quiet favors behind the Iron Curtain for the U.S. State Department. There were one or two other official agencies that benefited from his intimacy with back doors and his refusal to display fear to the dreaded, and rightly so, KGB.

Legend has it that his daughter Laurel, who personified the best kind of people we produce, people of rich service, could not resist the blandishments and smooth patter of Eddie Buchbinder, a slightly Jewish John Gotti-wannabe at a time when Gotti was in fifth grade.

By the time that the son-in-law had power of attorney twenty-five years later, he was allegedly blackmailing his father-in-law, who'd just been voted "Man of the Year" by his cherished comrades in the American camera industry. The son-in-law threatened to leave Alfred's daughter and grandchildren with nothing if Al didn't co-sign a one-million dollar loan for Eddie to open his own set of camera shops. Never mind that Eddie had gone from a Marine Corp paycheck to running his father-in-law's lucrative New York chain, and receiving a piece of every dollar coming in. He'd gone from a modest life to parking his own Rolls Royce in the driveway of his million-dollar home.

When Alfred firmly said "Sorry, no," Eddie apparently decided to use his never-suspended power of attorney, which had been necessary with the great man travelling to Eastern Europe so often. Mr. Buchbinder stocked his new Manhattan camera store with upwards of a million dollars' worth of photographic specialty items using Al Sleschinger's line of credit, knowing that he, Eddie, would never repay a dime.

Motivated by instincts baser than a parent hopes for, even when his Ferrari hit a tree on Long Island's Gold Coast in the rain at high speed he gave no thought to assay his lifestyle against the cost to others. He never repented, at least outwardly, and his wife never acknowledged his profundity of anti-connubial activities. Real life can be more of a soap opera than a daytime serial tv show.

After seven decades of service, joy, and giving, it broke Alfred's heart to have been exposed to such evil; broke his heart, and his health, leading to a too-early demise.

Thankfully, his legendary generosity and love of his fellow man live on far past his painful end. The NY Times obituary for Al Sleschiger while full of praise, could hardly have expressed how many people were positively touched and helped by the amazing "Uncle Al." The crowds who jammed Riverside Chapel in Manhattan certainly did, each with a warm story, a warmer memory.   From the arts he championed, to family he championed, he won without ever competing.

For all the challenges & obstacles that had to be overcome by that toothpick-skinny immigrant, he made good, and left behind a legacy of giving and service, which live on richly through his daughter Laurel's life, and those he touched again and again. Like his dear friend Franklin Roosevelt, he simply refused to give in to those many early critics. As a result, he lived the life of a winner, a champion, a true role model for the rest of us.

Just as his wife Kitty made the decision to continue their good works of philanthropy and cultural patronage, the wonder of men like Alfred Sleschinger, role models, came through again, as at least one of Alfred's grandchildren has grown up to be an excellent human being, spouse, and parent.     The great man, and his greater wife, live on, shining.