Stanley Zabar

Stanley Zabar died at his home in Manhattan on Monday 9 November 2026, aged 94. His daughter Dr. Sondra Zabar told The New York Times the cause was cancer. Zabar's announced his death on its Instagram account on 10 November, describing him as "a quiet force behind our family business". A funeral service was held at Riverside Memorial Chapel on West 76th Street on 11 November 2026, with a livestream for those unable to attend. He was survived by his wife Judith, his children Sondra and David, eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

Stanley Jerome Zabar was born in Brooklyn on 19 August 1932, a son of Louis and Lillian (Teitelbaum) Zabar, and moved with the family to Manhattan when he was two. His parents opened their food business in 1934 and at one point ran five small stores along Broadway between West 80th and 110th Streets, later consolidated into one store at 80th and Broadway. He attended the Horace Mann School and was at the University of Pennsylvania in 1950 when his father died. He left to help his older brother Saul run the store, transferred to New York University, and graduated in 1953. He earned a Juris Doctor from Brooklyn Law School in 1956, going to classes until early afternoon and then working at Zabar's until 9 p.m., and in 1961 received a master's degree in taxation from NYU School of Law.

Until 1972 Zabar balanced the store with full time legal work, as a partner at a law firm and as house counsel at the retail conglomerate Rapid-American Corp. He later said the store won out because clients were more excited that he was a Zabar than about the deals themselves: "There was real excitement in food."

With Saul and their partner Murray Klein, who became a partner in 1960, he built Zabar's into a leading New York appetizing and specialty food store. Saul oversaw operations and the smoked fish counters, while Stanley handled finance, law and the neighbourhood real estate holdings designed to secure the store's future. One deal nearly doubled the store's space by taking over a single room occupancy hotel above it, which drew protests in 1979; he later said he had spent $200,000 on a relocation settlement for the residents. The brothers bought out Klein in 1994.

According to general manager Scott Goldshine, Stanley Zabar was an architect of the store's mail order department and website, helped start its prepared foods section and was integral to the growth of its cheese business. He kept offices above the store and across the street, and was often seen greeting customers.

Zabar married Judith Segal in 1952. The couple were longtime supporters of Hunter College, whose Zabar Art Library, dedicated in 2008, was made possible by their support. Their daughter Lori Zabar, a preservationist and historian, died in 2022. Their other children are Dr. Sondra Zabar and David Zabar, a manager at the store. He described himself as a surrogate father to his younger brother Eli Zabar, who built his own food business on the East Side.

Zabar's statement said his legal and financial acumen was vital in shaping the store into a beloved New York institution, carrying forward the vision of his parents. Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal said the city had lost a Manhattan icon. His death came just over a year after that of his brother Saul, closing the era in which the two brothers ran the store together for some 75 years.