Obituary of Ira Ackerman

Ira “Butch” Ackerman, 91, of Howell died Wednesday, March 11, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Born April 16, 1928, in New York City, he was a former resident of Lakewood. He grew up in New York City and Peekskill, N.Y., and was a 1945 graduate of Peekskill High School. He moved to Toms River after serving as a sergeant of the guard in the Army in the Philippines during World War II, and studied agriculture and real estate at Rutgers University, Monmouth College and Ocean County College. He married Dolores Weissman on Jan. 20, 1952. They celebrated their 65th anniversary in 2017, the year she predeceased him. They owned and operated an egg production farm in Howell for several years after their marriage, and he was president of Clover Leaf Farms, Lakewood, a poultry sales and distribution business. In the early 1960s, he was an owner and manager of Chicken Hill Markets, a three-store food chain in Newark, and in the mid-‘70s he was a partner and operator of Gerfin’s Tavern, Jackson. He later became a builder of single-family homes, with his wife, a real estate investor and property manager. He was an avid golfer and a former member of the Lakewood Cabana Club, Woodlake Country Club and Lakewood Country Club, where he once scored a hole in one. He was a nature lover who gardened and grew apple, pear and peach trees and hundreds of rhododendrons on his Howell farm property, and citrus trees at a family retirement property in West Palm Beach. He was also predeceased by his parents, Leo and Minnie, and a brother, Murray, who nicknamed him in childhood. He is survived by his son, Bruce, and his wife, Glenda, Windsor, Ca., and West Palm Beach; his daughter, Lynda Ackerman and her husband, Wally Patrick, Metuchen; three grandchildren, Russell, Whitney and Jadyn; four nephews and five nieces. A graveside service will be conducted Sunday, March 15, at 12:30 p.m., at Toms River Jewish Community Cemetery, 1130 West Whitty Road. Arrangements are under the care of Belkoff-Goldstein Funeral Chapel.