Irwin Joseph Magerfield
PVT in Signal Co, Special : Radio C
Military occupational specialty: 766 (radio operator, high speed, manual)
ASN#12128317
Born 1911 in MO, Died 1993
County of residence at enlistment: New York County, NY
Other residence(s): St. Louis, MO; New York, NY; Margate, FL; Pompano Beach, FL
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: purchasing agent and buyers, n.e.c.
Irwin Magerfield was born on September 1, 1911 in St. Louis, MO, the youngest of three children. Both of his parents were Jews who had been born in Russia; his father owned a tailor shop.
Irwin's older siblings had been born in New York, and the family returned there sometime in the 1920s, settling in the Bronx. He completed three years of high school and went to work as a dress buyer. On January 19, 1939 he married Betty Posner who also worked in ladies' apparel; sadly, she died less than two years later.
Irwin registered for the draft on October 16, 1940 and enlisted on August 28, 1942. He was eventually assigned to the Signal Company Special. On March 9, 1943 he married Sylvia Breskin and the following year he went overseas with his unit. He was known as "Maggie" among his fellow soldiers.
After the war ended, he went back to New York where he and Sylvia settled in Peter Cooper Village in Manhattan. They became the parents of a daughter, Lucy, a couple of years later. Irwin continued his work as a retail clothing buyer, and by 1963 he was president of Ace Buying Corporation. That year he was honored by the Men's Club of the Hebrew Home for the Aged at Riverdale for his active participation in the organization.
During these years he was also a member of the Brotherhood Synagogue in nearby Gramercy Park.
By 1973, he was proprietor of his own buying firm—Irwin Magerfield Associates. In 1977, the firm was renamed Magerfield-Chernoff Associates and styled themselves as a women's fashion buying office. They supplied stock to stores all over the country.
Irwin and Sylvia had divorced in 1970 and at some point Irwin retired to Florida, eventually settling in Pompano Beach.
He died on June 11, 1993 and is buried at Mt. Hebron Cemetery in Flushing, NY.
Sources:
1920 census
1930 census
1939 marriage record (first)
1940 census
https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/2442/records/8406749?tid=4233955&pid=-1629999166&ssrc=pt
1940 draft card
1942 enlistment record
1943 marriage record (second)
1950 census
1957 NY City directory
1963 article in the NY Daily News about his work and volunteer activities
www.newspapers.com/image/459925128/?match=1&terms=Irwin%20J%20magerfield
1963 article in the NY Post about the same (slightly different info)
1970 divorce notice in the Brunswick News Extra (GA)
1993 Find a Grave record
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/77829178/irwin-joseph-magerfield
1993 Social Security death index