I am truly in Maurie’s debt. I was collecting notes for a book without a good sense of what the business was all about until Maurie told me to tour the old cold storage building on Fulton Street. With his prodding, I knocked on the door, asked if I could see inside, and the man in the office took me all over -- into the freezers, up to the roof, over the railroad tracks that led into the building. That’s when the stories he and others had been telling me fell into place.

After receiving news of Maurie’s passing, I reread my notes from our conversations. I think the word “colorful” exists for stories like his. He was in the onion market, then the pork belly market, even the potato market, when they were at their most exciting. At some point Barbara Streisand made a movie in which she (if my notes are correct) hired a prize fighter to help pay off her debt in pork bellies. After hearing about the movie, Maurie or his ad man sent brochures and account forms to Barbara Streisand. He knew who in the pits had bad toupees, and who had good ones. He knew who at the exchange in New York used a mouth spray to prevent germs. He of course knew who was trustworthy and who was a scoundrel. His memory and eye for detail were amazing. It was generous of him to share some of that history.

Above all, Maurie was always very kind to me, making time to talk or have lunch when the markets didn’t need his attention. To his family, thank you, and my condolences.