By Albert Amateau
Mae Buchbinder, widow of Norman Buchbinder, a realtor and early president of the Village Alliance business improvement district, died Oct. 3 at the age of 90.
The only daughter in a family with four sons, she was born on the Upper West Side to Mae and John Bagwell. For several years after high school she worked for Paramount Pictures in the production department, according to a tribute written by her daughter Lori.
“Her life changed one day when a friend set her up with a blind date with a man who said he would be sitting in a bar with a rose between his teeth,” her daughter said.
The man, Norman Buchbinder, was indeed in the bar with a rose between his teeth.
“On their 50th wedding anniversary, my mother gave him a red rose,” her daughter said.
Mae Bagwell, raised in a Catholic family, and Norman Buchbinder, from a Jewish family, dated for several years and didn’t get married until 1957 when they were in their mid-30s after Mae converted to Judaism, said Lori.
Lori described her mother as an elegant beauty who wore only silver jewelry and never wore any colors other than black, white or gray.
With their two daughters, Lori and Susan, born 18 months apart, the family lived in Queens for many years before moving to the Upper West Side.
Norman Buchbinder, a partner in the Greenwich Village realty firm Buchbinder & Warren and a founding member of the Village Alliance BID, died in 2007.
In addition to Lori and Susan, who both work at Buchbinder & Warren, her sons-in-law, Ray McDaniel and William Abramson, and four grandchildren also survive.
