About

Her beauty and charisma belied her years. Born October 7, 1917 in Budapest, Hungary Lillian Slutzker fled Nazi control for England after her parents were killed at Auschwitz. Prior to the Normandy invasion of WWII, she met Manny Slutzker at a USO dance.  A week after they met, he proposed.  Lillian told him, “Let’s see if you get back first.”

After the war ended, Manny returned to his hometown of Rome, New York. Lillian followed in 1947, and the two were married. In 1949, they bought what was then a smoke shop on Marshall Street.  Lillian fondly remembered those early years.”Manny sold everything in the store back then—clothing, hats, imported cigarettes, he was a pioneer in the paperback business in Syracuse—the first to offer Penguin paperbacks.” Manny’s involvement with the textbook business led to a close and long-lasting relationship with the University community.

Students and professors counted on him to carry the books they needed. She said “It was a lot of work to keep up with the demands of the textbook business, but Manny always had what they were looking for, and he always had it on time.”

When her husband’s health began to deteriorate in the early eighties, Lillian took over the business. It was a difficult time, she recalled. “I’d work all day, then be up all night with him.” Manny suffered from Alzheimer’s disease for nine years before his death in 1985 at age 69.  After Manny’s death, Lillian operated the store with help from their son Craig. “We worked holidays, Sundays, nights. I put in 16-hour days,” she said. “It took me two years to win the respect of the business community, but I succeeded. I didn’t know I had such talents!”

Lillian was strongly committed to Judaism. She was an active member and served on the board of Temple Adath Yeshurun and the Temple sisterhood.  She was a member of Bnai Brith International and The US Holocaust Museum.  She was a staunch supporter of Hillel at SU, as well as, The Jewish Community Center and the Syracuse Hebrew Day School.         Her love of animals led her to take a role in The Humane Society (both national and Onondaga County), The National Humane Education Society and The ASPCA.  She dedicated herself to The International Student Center at SU which was named the Lillian and Emanuel Slutzker Center for International Services in 2000, but has since been renamed.

The foundation’s purpose is to carry on her legacy and fulfill her passion for Judaism, education and enriching the community.