Leonard “Lenny” Schneider, 95, died on Jan. 31, 2024.  He passed away at the Memorial Regional Hospital Emergency Room in Hollywood, Fl.  He was born on April 14, 1928. Lenny had lived in South Florida since 1966, when he moved his family from the Bronx, N.Y. It was the start of a years-long journey for the self-described “poor schnook from the Bronx” who served in the Army during the Korean War, came home, and became an electrician.

 But Lenny didn’t like the cold climate.  Nor did he enjoy digging out during snowstorms. So, with his brother-in-law Robbie, he bought a motel on Balboa Street, east of A1A in Hollywood.  The two families initially lived in what was then called Brennan’s By the Sea.  Of course, they also rented out unoccupied motel rooms.

Hollywood was an affordable place at that time.  People of limited means could make a life for themselves in quiet Hollywood, as Lenny did with his wife Frances, daughter Michele and son Steve.  

Through the years, the electrician turned motel owner continued his transformation in the Sunshine State.  In less than a decade, Lenny earned his Florida real estate license.  He mainly sold local homes to other people of limited means, sometimes through a government-backed FHA program. Wanting more, Lenny earned a broker license.

 Along the way, he met a woman who loved the idea of buying real estate. But she wanted to work with someone who knew something about it. So, he teamed up with Evelyn Geiger. Together, they bought, sold, and fixed up properties.  For a spell, they also shared a home east of A1A on Missouri Street in Hollywood. Lenny, a big city boy, lived steps away from the Atlantic Ocean for the second time in his life.

 As he continued aging, though, Lenny made a new friend, Margarita Blanco Fernandez. They enjoyed going to yard sales and attending meditations at the Hollywood Library. Willing to try new things, he also learned how to buy used computers and make them work better. Lenny would then sell them from his home on South 20 Avenue in downtown Hollywood.  Working people in the neighborhood stopped by to purchase a refurbished computer for $100.

 However, rocked by illness for about the last four years of his life, Lenny insisted on living life on his terms. Case in point: He didn’t think much of long-term care facilities, preferring to spend his time at home. And he did, living in his retirement villa at the Hillcrest condominiums in Hollywood, where he moved after selling his home. He watched videos from his wheelchair. Lenny also enjoyed the company of a Marilyn Monroe picture, which hung on the wall across from his hospital bed at home, which he shared with me and our cats Cali, Rusty, and Norma Jean.

Who can say if cat intuition is a real thing.  But Norma Jean slept with Lenny on his pillow the last night Lenny spent in his second-floor catwalk condo building.