Ira (Spiro) Barzilay

Ira (Spiro) Barzilay was quite the renaissance man according to his obituary. He was born in New York in 1919 and passed in Palm Desert in 2005 at the age of 86. He was a child prodigy on the piano and, although not a key player, appeared in several episodes of “Our Gang” and “The Little Rascals” as well as a short film with child actress Shirley Temple titled “Dora’s Dunking Doughnuts”. He was a decorated war hero surviving the second day of landing at Normandy and overseeing the rebuilding of the Bridge at Remagen. After the war he founded Barzilay Furniture Manufacturing Co. and for 40 years operated it out of Gardena California until he closed its doors in 1986 so he could retire and pursue his boating and sailing hobby.