His surname was an Arabic-Moroccan name that his Sephardic Jewish forebears had adopted after fleeing the Spanish Inquisition to Morocco.
[1] He came to the United States in 1925, and grew up in Bensonhurst and Borough Park in Brooklyn.
[3] He continued to play squash and win tournaments at an advanced age.
He enjoyed watercolor painting, creating 4,000 in his lifetime, some of which were exhibited in galleries.
He died on November 17, 2014, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, New York City.