Helen Kutsher: Catskills maven

Borscht (Photo by Berloga) 

Since the "Herring Maven" heyday of the 1960s, the term "maven" hasn't been used as much.  From the Hebrew mevin ("one who understands"), and then passed on to English via Yiddish, this word continues to mean "a trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others."

Such was Helen Kutsher, who died just this week at the age of 89.

The Wall Street Journal tells us that Helen "doted on generations of guests at one of the most famous 'Borscht Belt' hotels…"  Wikipedia explains that the "Borscht Belt" was so named because of the "largely Jewish-American clientele that made the Catskills the primary vacation destination for Jews in the Northeastern United States."  Helen, along with her husband Milton (who died in 1998), developed what once was Kutsher's Brothers Farm House into a "1,500 acre property that included a 400-room resort, condos, two bungalow colonies, two summer camps, an 18-hole golf course and lakefront."  Over the years, this "empire" hosted the likes of Red Auerbach, Wilt Chamberlain, Muhammad Ali, Floyd Patterson, Leon Spinks, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Jerry Seinfeld, Dean Martin and Woody Allen.

The Wall Street Journal describes Helen as "the face of the resort , gregariously greeting guests with a smile… and making sure that their needs were met."  Her daughter, Mary Prowler, said that Helen "made sure people felt that they were pretty special."  She accomplished this by honoring birthdays, gifting children, and being "the heart of the hotel."

Resources

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maven

http://online.wsj.com/article/AP165ff7c1e9314e30b63e388d9ac76c75.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kutsher's_Hotel

Copyright March 22, 2013 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved