Introduction
Benjamin Schatz was born in New York on December 10, 1897, the son of Israel Schatz. The family were Russian Jewish immigrants who came to Camden in the 1910s.
Israel Schatz ran a restaurant at 210-212 Arch Street, where Ben served as manager. His sisters Kate and Sarah worked as waitresses, while his brother George worked in the kitchen. Younger brothers Jacob and Philip were still in school during this period.
Ben married Anna Rosen in Philadelphia in 1921. The couple moved to Westville, where Ben opened a grocery store at 13 Third Avenue. The business remained open into the 1940s and served the local community for more than two decades.
Ben and Anna had four children: Harold, Elaine, Gloria, and Leona. Their daughter Leona met her future husband, Harold Wachsman, at a dance at the Talmud Torah hall on Kaighn Avenue.
Benjamin Schatz died in Burlington, New Jersey, on September 20, 1982.
His brother George Schatz went into the auto repair business in 1924, establishing George’s Auto Service, which became a South Jersey institution operating into the 1980s.