Elias Karmon

Karmon (originally Kaminsky) was born in the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York to immigrants from Eastern Europe. He attended New York University, graduating in 1932 with a degree in Commercial Science.^[1]

After getting his degree, Karmon followed his parents into the garment industry, getting a job at a wholesale clothing business.^[1] The owner died soon after Karmon started working there whereupon Karmon purchased the business and took on a partner. The partnership quickly proved unsuccessful and the business failed.^[2] They then decided to open a retail clothing store in the Bronx but Karmon's partner backed out of the deal and Karmon opened Hollywood Clothes by himself.^[1] The store, located on Prospect Avenue and East 163rd Street in the Morrisania section of the Bronx^[3] was opened in the late 1930s and remained in operation until the 1970s. Among the store's regular clients were jazz saxophonist Benny Carter and Colin Powell, who at the time was a student at City College and ROTC member.^[1]

In addition to running the store, Karmon served in many positions of community leadership. For four years, from 1978 to 1981, he was the president of The Bronx Chamber of Commerce, and also served as Treasurer, and as Vice President of the chamber at various times.^[1][4] After the chamber faded from power in the 1990s, Karmon worked with other business leaders and Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión Jr. to form a replacement organization^[4] known as the New Bronx Chamber of Commerce.^[5]

Karmon was one of the founders of the Ponce de Leon Bank in 1959, and served as a board member emeritus until his death.^[5] He founded the Prospect Avenue Merchant's Association. Karmon was active in the Forrest Neighborhood House, the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Bronx YMCA, the Bronx Boy's Club, the East Bronx Community Council, the Council of Spanish American Organizations of Greater New York, South Bronx Kids, the Prospect Avenue Little League, the Mount Carmel Baptist Church, and the New York Urban League.^[1] Karmon was popularly known as "Mr. Bronx".^[6]

Karmon endowed the Bronx CUNY Scholarship Fund, which provides financial support for students in need at three schools in the Bronx: Lehman College, Bronx Community College, and Hostos Community College.^[7][8]

Karmon was active in Democratic politics in the South Bronx. He was a member of the Jackson Democratic Club, which worked to elect black politicians.^[2] Karmon and the Jackson Democratic Club were instrumental in electing Walter Gladwin as the first black elected official from the Bronx and the first black member of the New York State Assembly.^[1][2] Karmon also supported the campaign of Felipe N. Torres, who was the first Puerto Rican from the Bronx to serve in the Assembly.^[1]

Karmon lived the last years of his life in the Pelham Parkway section of the Bronx, and continued to run his various businesses and real estate ventures in the borough. He was known for throwing himself birthday parties which served as fund raisers for local cultural and social organizations.^[1] In May 2000, José E. Serrano and Eliot Engel both entered tributes into the Congressional Record honoring Karmon on the occasion his 90th birthday.^[9][10] Serrano called Karmon "an outstanding individual who has devoted his life to his family and to serving the community".^[10] Karmon died on October 11, 2008, and is buried at the Cedar Park Cemetery in Paramus, New Jersey.^[5] In 2014, the intersection of Thwaites Place and Barker Avenue was given the honorary designation of "Elias Karmon Way".^[11]