Martin Portnoy
Martin Portnoy
MARTIN PORTNOY was born on May 3, 1904. A professional musician, he was active in the Philadelphia Musicians Union. By May of 1950 he was leading his own band, the Marty Portnoy Orchestra, and was living at 412 Broadway in Camden, N.J. Besides music, he ran an electrical fixtures store out of the Broadway address in the 1950s.
Martin Portnoy was still leading his orchestra in the Delaware Valley, 53 years later, in 2003. In his later years he performed solo at nursing homes. He passed away on January 18, 2018 at the age of 92.
Cops Get Boy, Key in Hunt of Meter Looter
Camden Courier-Post —
A 15-year-old boy suspected of looting scores of parking meters in the city with a key found in his possession was arrested early today near Broadway and Auburn st.
Police identified the suspect as Frank Burns, 15, of Line st. near 7th st.
He was apprehended at 5.30 a.m. by Sgt. Earl Quinton and Ptl. Edward Ingram and Thomas Penn and held for city juvenile authorities, who will continue an investigation of the looting.
Twelve Looted in Night
Quinton reported 12 meters in the vicinity of Broadway and Mickle, Federal and Carman sts., had been looted Wednesday night prior to Burns’ arrest.
A second suspect eluded police while they were arresting Burns, according to Quinton.
Quinton said a key found in Burns’ pocket fit the parking meters and he used it to remove the coin boxes from them. Quinton said he did not know where Burns obtained the key.
200 Boxes Taken This Year
Nearly 50 parking meters were looted in the city in April, raising the total for the first four months of 1959 to more than 200.
Ptl. Douglas Holmes and Charles Voll found nine meters looted Wednesday night and Quinton three shortly before arresting Holmes.
Quinton said he was on patrol on Broadway near Stevens st. when he spotted a boy removing a coin box from a meter.
The police sergeant added the boy ran into Auburn st. when he spotted the police car. Quinton broadcast a description of the boy and then went after him on foot.
In the meantime, Ingram and Penn, who were in the vicinity, had circled the block and the police trapped Burns in an alley between Auburn and Washington sts.
Quinton closed in and made the arrest, he said.
Burns is alleged to have admitted looting “numerous meters in center city,” according to Quinton.
Shortly after 8 a.m. today, Martin Portnoy, operator of an electrical fixtures store at Broadway and Auburn st., found three coin boxes on the side steps of the store. Portnoy turned the boxes, intact and containing coins, over to Ptl. Dennis Evans.
Martin Portnoy, 92, longtime area bandleader
Philadelphia Inquirer —
Martin Portnoy, 92, a bandleader whose orchestra performed for decades at Philadelphia affairs ranging from weddings to Liberty Medal ceremonies, died Thursday, Jan. 18, from kidney-related disease at Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice in Voorhees.
The Marty Portnoy Orchestra, a longtime fixture in Center City ballrooms and thousands of events around the region, played at the Liberty Medal ceremonies for Nelson Mandela and F.W. de Klerk in 1993 and Vaclav Havel in 1994. His band performed at a birthday party for Frank Sinatra in Atlantic City, his family said.
“He touched so many people’s lives with his music,” said his daughter Robin Gibson.
An Inquirer columnist in 1995 wrote that the orchestra’s members wore tuxedos and were “always true to the spirit of the song.”
Mr. Portnoy was born in Philadelphia and raised in the city’s Feltonville section by Russian immigrant parents. He graduated from Olney High School and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
He mainly played the saxophone and clarinet, and was a member and president of Music Associates, a group that ran 20 bands.
“To him, it was a lifestyle, a calling,” said his wife of 50 years, Gail.
In his later years, before his health declined, he would perform solo shows at nursing homes to provide music for the residents, she said.
In 2008, he published an autobiography, The Kid and His Music.
In addition to his wife and daughter, Mr. Portnoy is survived by another daughter, Mindy Fratkin; sons Randy and Gary; a brother; and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A celebration of his life is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Friday, Jan. 19, at the Merion, 1301 Route 130, Cinnaminson.
Contributions in his name can be made to Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice at www.samaritannj.com.