While reading the October 2010 QST, I noticed that Mark Grossman, K2CON was listed as a Silent Key.
Mark was a good friend of my father who met him at Harrison Radio in Lower Manhattan around 1960. Mark was a “counter man” when parts, like resistors, condensers, and tubes were big sellers and stores needed an experienced person to know “what-was-what.”
Mark later worked at Arrow Electronic on Chambers Street and Church Street, also in Lower Manhattan.
His passing signals the end of an era for those who recall New York City’s “radio row” and the people and stores that made up a world that few have experienced.
Mark’s father, Maurice, was also a ham and was a very proficient CW operator.
I first Mark K2CON at the Arrow Electronics on
Chambers Street, he administered my first
Technician license exam in 1970, then I visited
him at Harrison Radio in Valley Stream. I last
heard from him on 15 meters SSB when I was
mobile in Omaha about 15 years ago. He was on
with a net with the WB2JKJ radio club of JHS
22. He sent me that picture as a QSL from that
contact.
I too knew Mark from his days at Harrison Radio. I moved out to Long Island in 1984. While looking for a metal utility box for a project that I was working on, I wandered into Edlee Electronics on Hempstead Turnpike in Levittown. The place had stuff piled everywhere, including loads of LPs in boxes on the floor. The counterman was talking with someone when I walked in. I listened to the conversation and then realized that I recognized the counterman's voice. When it was my turn to get helped I said "Mark?". He replied yes. I told him who I was and we chatted for a while going over old times. Funny how things just seem to happen.