March 16, 2020

Rose and Max Asinof

Rose Asinof (born Tager) was a very close friend of Adele Stein (Howard’s mother). After college they took a very long and adventurous drive to and around the Gaspé Peninsula in Canada. At that time that was an extraordinary thing to do and it was folklore in those generations of the family. [Howard]

Rose Tager was the daughter of William Tager and Annie Epstein, both from Russia.

Annie Epstein and William Tager were married in Russia circa 1890, and had a son Samuel in 1891. All three Tagers emigrated to New York City from Russia in 1892. William was 27 and Annie was 22. They had two more children in New York, Rose and Arthur Tager.

Their daughter Rose Tager married Max Asinof in Manhattan, NY on June 24, 1915. They had three kids, Coleman, Eliot and Betty.

Max passed away in 1947.

Max Asinof's parents Morris Asinof and Sarah Prince also came from Russia in 1886. They had four kids: Max, Moses, Sal, and Jesse.

After WWII, Morris Asinof had a huge 83rd birthday party at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in 1946, described in the New York Times article below. "The party celebrated also the safe return of seven of his grandchildren from service in the Army and Navy,"

Here is the birth announcement for Eliot Tager Asinof, son of Rose and Max, book author.

Eliot Asinof was born into a Jewish family^[2] in Manhattan in 1919, and lived in and around New York City for much of his life. In his youth, he worked in his family's tailoring business. He graduated from Swarthmore College in 1940, then played briefly as a minor-league first baseman in the Philadelphia Phillies' organization. During World War II, Asinof served in the U.S. Army on Adak in the Aleutian Islands.^[3] He was married for five years to Jocelyn Brando, an actress who was the elder sister of Marlon Brando; the marriage ended in divorce in 1955. [Wikipedia]

Eliot Tager Asinof, Author (1919-2008)
New York City, Circa 2000

Eliot Asinof, ‘Eight Men Out’ Author, Is Dead at 88

By Bruce Weber

June 11, 2008 [NYT]

Eliot Tager Asinof was born in Manhattan on July 13, 1919, and he grew up in Manhattan and Cedarhurst, N.Y. His grandfather Morris, a Russian immigrant, was a tailor who eventually opened a men’s store in Manhattan.

Eliot’s father, Max, worked there, and when young Eliot went to work there as well, it was a tenet that he had to sew a suit before he would be allowed to sell one.

The dexterity he developed served him well. Mr. Asinof was an accomplished amateur pianist and sculptor. He was also a carpenter who in 1985, with his son, built the Ancramdale house he lived in for the rest of his life. He shot his age on a golf course for the first time at 79.

“He was really proud of that suit,” said his son, who lives in Tillamook, Ore. Mr. Asinof is also survived by a sister, Betty, who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

After graduating from Swarthmore, Mr. Asinof played baseball briefly in the minor leagues — he was a first baseman in the Philadelphia Phillies’ organization — before he joined the Army. When he returned, his son said, the Phillies invited him to return, but he pulled a muscle during his first practice, and that was it for his sports career. He turned to writing. [NYT June 11, 2008]

Here is one of Eliot's books.