After Isroff, 76, graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business, he returned to Middletown to run the family business, Reed Klopp Furniture and later rejoined Rogers Jewelers, which was founded by his parents. He worked for the business for 38 years in every capacity and helped grow the business to 46 store chains.
Isroff served as chairman of the Downtown Partnership, YMCA Board, Junior Achievement, Chamber of Commerce, president of Temple Beth Sholom and president of Middletown Community Foundation. He also spent 20 years coaching youth football, baseball, soccer and softball.
If the city had cheerleaders — and if Isroff didn’t require a cane to walk — you get the feeling he’d captain the squad. Admittedly a “glass half-full” kind of guy, Isroff always sees the positive.
When talking about Middletown, he said: “I have seen it at its peak, and I’ve seen it at its decline, and I’m so proud of the recovery. I have always been faithful to the downtown area. I’m so proud of the people who have had faith in Middletown. People are coming back here and helping it grow.”
He said when he thinks of his hometown he gets a “warm feeling,” though some have called Middletown a dying city.
“I have created a career, raised a family, I have long-term friendships, I have new friendships,” he said after the luncheon as well-wishers stopped by his table. “I just think it’s a great place to be. I look at Middletown as the epicenter of where I am.”
Now his name has been added to the distinguished list of past Verity Award winners. Verity was a U.S. administrator and steel industrialist who worked at Armco Steel. He served as the Secretary of Commerce between 1987 and 1989, under President Ronald Reagan.
Isroff said Verity’s “fingerprints are on so many good things in the community. So it’s an honor to be honored with this award.”
Before the luncheon, Middletown Municipal Court Judge Mark Wall, keynote speaker at Middletown’s Veterans Day ceremony at Woodside Cemetery, said veterans stand in “honor of our brothers and sisters in arms who cannot stand, and who gave their lives and limbs to secure the rights and privileges we so dearly cherish.”
Wall, a combat veteran who served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, said those who survived wars should “honor the service” of those who lost their lives.
“A nation is judged by how it honors those of us who served in the military to secure the freedoms they enjoy, including the freedoms of protest,” he said after the ceremony.
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