The Sadoff Family of Fond du Lac
by Dawn Iorio

On October 30, 1971, the stage in the gymnasium at St. Mary’s Middle School was filled with three hundred prominent Fond du Lac citizens. The community of Fond du Lac had gathered to recognize the success of one of its members, Ben Sadoff. The Fond du Lac Reporter summed up the view of many:

Ben Sadoff’s success story in the rough and tumble world of automobile parts and manufacturing . . . is how one man accumulated the savvy or know- how to turn red into black, to reorganize a failing venture into a productive one or to move a stumbling business and put it on its feet in a matter of months . . . . The story of Ben Sadoff and his family cannot be unrivaled [sic] in the history of Fond du Lac and seldom equaled in Wisconsin. ¹

Despite what might be taken as dramatic hyperbole, this assertion is in fact an under-statement, for the Sadoff family’s experience in America over three generations repre-sents a truly remarkable success story, one that was very important in the shaping of the city of Fond du Lac’s growth and its character as a community in the twentieth century.

A common saying in Europe during the early 1900s was that “The streets in America are lined with gold.” For many Jews who lived in Europe, the trip to America seemed worth taking both for what they might find and for what they left behind. Most Jews in Europe encountered bigotry and restrictive laws that deprived them of the oppor-tunity to make a living and often threatened their lives. America, they hoped, might give them the chance to become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams. Among those who made the decision to leave their homes were Abraham and Rebecca Sadoff, Jewish immi-grants from Odessa, Ukraine. The Sadoff family would indeed go from rags to riches, becoming prominent members in an American town, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Since the Sadoff family’s arrival early in the twentieth century, its members have contributed a great deal to the Fond du Lac community. The Sadoff name in Fond du Lac has been associated with great business achievement, wealth, and humanitarian effort; Russia’s loss became Fond du Lac’s good fortune. In many ways the Sadoff family’s history has mirrored Fond du Lac’s growth. Within the city, they also were a major fac-tor in the growth, flourishing, and eventual decline of the Jewish community.

Abraham and Rebecca Sadoff with their Nine Children, 1948

Several events contributed to the wave of Jewish immigration from Russia to the U.S. Jews in Russia faced much turmoil during the last century. In 1880, Central and Eastern Europe, which included the empires of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Russia, contained 80 per cent of the world’s Jewish population, more than nine million people. ² Their family roots in this area could be traced back hundreds of years. A century later, the Soviet Union’s two million Jews, living mainly in territories that had formerly been part of the three defunct empires, represented only the third largest Jewish community in the world. Nearly one-half of the world’s Jewish population of thirteen million lived in the Western Hemisphere. Today there are more than five million Jews in the United States. About 3.5 million live in Israel, and more than a million are citizens of France and Great Britain.

The waves of Jewish emigration from Eastern Europe began soon after 1881, when Tsar Alexander II was assassinated by a terrorist organization. Anti-Jewish riots followed the Tsar’s assassination. Prior to this event, there had been small waves of Jewish emigration, but the murder of the Emperor triggered a dramatic increase. Over the next few years there continued to be an outward flow in response to the organized anti-Jewish riots, or “pogroms.”

Such mass eruptions of violence against Russian Jews were often planned and directed by the government. ³ Police allowed mobs to rape, torture, and burn Jewish resi-dents. It was legal to rob the Jews of their possessions, or the law would turn a blind eye to such acts. The pogroms became an outlet for frustration of the Russian peasantry. Russian Jews became the scapegoat for this misery, producing mass violence that might otherwise have been directed at the government. Years later, Thelma Sadoff recalled her mother-in-law Rebecca Sadoff’s, experience in the pogroms. When Russian soldiers searched for Jews, Rebecca and Abraham Sadoff hid with their children in the cellar. Because the couple had three young children, the Sadoffs covered the babies’ mouths with their hands to muffle the children’s cries. ⁴

Russian Jews were also restricted as to the region in which they could live. The Pale of Settlement was a network of provinces in the west and southwest of the Russian Empire where Jews were allowed to reside. It constituted a sort of giant ghetto in which Jews could live, travel, and do business. Roughly three million Jews were affected by this decision. The limitation imposed by the Pale would be in effect as late as 1910.

In addition to physical violence, Russian Jews suffered economic discrimination. Jews were not allowed to work in Russia’s heavy industry. Most Jewish businesses consisted of small cottage-like workshops and modest factories. During this time, about a third of the Jews were employed in light industry, and more than ten per cent were laborers or peddlers. Many continued these professions when they moved to America.

This was the situation into which Abraham Sadoff was born on May 18, 1876, in Odessa. ⁵ Today Odessa is the fifth largest city in the independent country of Ukraine and is its most important commercial city. It is the largest city on the Black Sea and a principal seaport. Abraham Sadoff was the son of Arthur and Leone Sadoff. In 1897, he married Rebecca Manis in Odessa. He was associated with manufacturing in Odessa, operating a small cabinet factory. ⁶ Oppression of the Jews and lack of economic opportunity encouraged him to immigrate to the United States early in the twentieth century. Abraham Sadoff came directly to Fond du Lac, where his wife, Rebecca, and their children later joined him.

His reason for choosing Fond du Lac is unknown. He may have had friends or acquaintances in the area, for Fond du Lac had a small number of Jewish residents at the time. Perhaps he chose Fond du Lac as his place of residence because of the opportunities it provided him and its close proximity to a large city, Milwaukee.

Wisconsin had certainly long been a common destination for new Americans coming from Central and Eastern Europe. Historically, Milwaukee has been one of America’s most popular cities for immigrants. ⁷ There were waves of immigration in response to Milwaukee’s growth as a commercial and industrial center. As was common in immigrant communities, neighborhoods were created along both ethnic and economic lines. The Russian Jews of Milwaukee lived along the Kinnickinnic River, near the Water Street neighborhood, in the middle of the “German core” neighborhood. To the northeast was the “Polish laborer” neighborhood. The Russian Jews came to Milwaukee as part of a third great wave of European newcomers. They had been preceded, before the American Civil War, by Irish and Germans. After the Civil War, in the 1880s, Poles came to the city, largely from German-controlled areas of Poland. The third wave of immigrants came to Milwaukee and eastern Wisconsin from southern and eastern Europe between 1890 and 1910. It was during this period that Abraham Sadoff came to the United States. ⁸

Between 1840 and 1930, the Jewish population in the United States increased from fifty thousand to four and a half million. Like other new immigrants, Russian Jews had to learn the English language and adapt to American ways. There was much competition for jobs in a marketplace that was overflowing with cheap labor. ⁹

Abraham Sadoff may have had family or friends from Odessa who lived in or near Milwaukee prior to his immigration. Typically, one individual or family from a community would move to the United States and establish a home. After they were residents for a time, perhaps months or even years, they would send for other relatives and friends. In this way it was common for extended families to resettle in America, member by member.

The Sadoffs also may have chosen Fond du Lac because of its role as a railroad center. At the time, Fond du Lac was an important division point on the Chicago North-western Railroad, with a booming local economy, and the city was more important to the economy of the State at that time than it is today. At the turn of the century, Fond du Lac was an important sawmilling and woodworking center, the eighth largest city in Wis-consin. Perhaps because of Abraham Sadoff’s background as a cabinetmaker, he found Fond du Lac and its wood products industries attractive as a residence.

In any event, it is clear that the family did have relations who lived in both Milwaukee and Sheboygan during the years following Abraham Sadoff’s arrival, although it is uncertain whether any of them came to Wisconsin earlier than he did.

The exact date of Abraham Sadoff’s arrival in Fond du Lac is also uncertain. Articles in the local newspaper report that he, his wife Rebecca, and four children arrived in 1903. ¹⁰ According to the children’s obituaries, however, all four were born in the Russian city of Odessa. Their birth dates ranged from 1898 to 1905. Charna was born on December 25, 1898. Ben, the first son, was born June 11, 1900. Fannie and Betty were born March 5, 1904 and January 1, 1905. The remaining five children, David, George, Arthur, Leone, and Rose, were all born in Fond du Lac. David was the first Sadoff child born in Fond du Lac, on December 25, 1909. ¹¹

The 1907 edition of the Fond du Lac City Directory lists Abraham Sadoff as a resident. This is the earliest directory in which his name appears. ¹² Publication of the directories occurred about a year after the data were collected, and this would place the Sadoffs in Fond du Lac by 1906. It is therefore likely that Abraham Sadoff arrived in Fond du Lac sometime during 1905 or 1906.

The family must have been rather poor when they arrived, for Abraham Sadoff was unable to take up his previous career as a cabinetmaker. In 1907, soon after Abraham Sadoff arrived in Fond du Lac, he began to conduct business as a “peddler.” This was the humble beginning of the “A. Sadoff & Son” scrap metal business. ¹³ By 1911, Abraham Sadoff had moved his family to a farmhouse located at 415 Cedar Street, while he continued to work as a peddler and junk collector. ¹⁴ He was known as a friendly collector who roamed the streets of Fond du Lac with a horse and wagon in quest of junk. The Sadoff family’s poverty was not abject, however, for during this time, the horse and wagon that were essential to his trade represented a substantial business investment. ¹⁵

By 1916, the Fond du Lac City directory listed Abraham Sadoff as a dealer in rubber, metals, and rags. He was still operating out of his home on Cedar Street.¹⁶ The peddlers of this time typically drove their wagons and carts to rural areas. There they would barter with farmers for worn-out equipment and other items that had resale value, including rags and bones. ¹⁷ Abraham Sadoff then sold the discarded items to mills, smel-ters, or foundries, where the scrap materials would be processed. Initially there was not a clear distinction between scrap collectors and processors.

Soon, other members of the Sadoff’s extended family began to move to Fond du Lac, including Abraham Sadoff’s brothers, Sam and Max. Sam moved to a residence on Military Road, where he was listed as a laborer. ¹⁸ In 1915, Max came to Fond du Lac and was also employed as a laborer, according to the Fond du Lac City Directory. ¹⁹ At this time, Sam moved to Cedar Street near Abraham Sadoff’s home. Sam Sadoff did cabi-netry work, which had been his profession in Russia.

Members of Rebecca Manis-Sadoff’s family also moved to the area. By 1913, her brothers Harry, Sam, and Srool were living on Cedar Street. ²⁰ Their professions were similar to that of Abraham Sadoff. Harry became a peddler, while Sam bought and sold junk out of his home. Srool was a cabinetmaker, working in the same home. Thus both Abraham Sadoff’s and Rebecca Manis’ extended family took up familiar professions, working as peddlers, laborers, or as cabinetmakers, as they had done in Odessa.

In 1917, Abraham’s oldest son, Ben, joined the family business. Ben purchased a horse, harness, and wagon for $10 to join his father’s firm. ²¹ The company was renamed “A. Sadoff & Son.” At seventeen years of age, Ben left high school, without graduating, to join his father in the peddling trade. As a child, Ben had sold newspapers for a man who owned a local novelty store in order to help support the family. ²² He showed great responsibility as the eldest son of nine children. While growing up, Ben purchased all of his own clothing in order to lessen the financial pressure on his parents. Ben was later quoted as saying, “We were poor, really poor” during the years before World War I. ²³

Soon after Ben joined the family business, the barn behind the family home caught fire, and their wagons and other equipment were destroyed. ²⁴ All of the neighbors tried to keep the fire from spreading. Evidently, the Sadoffs soon recovered from this setback, for in 1919 Ben had enough capital to acquire the Sweet Wagon Works Company located on West Arndt Street, near the west branch of the Fond du Lac River.

Sometime between 1916 and 1921, Abraham and Rebecca Sadoff moved their family from 415 Cedar to 127 North Main Street, a property that stills exists today. ²⁵ The family was still in the junk business. More of the children began to work for Abraham and Ben Sadoff. Abraham’s daughter Fannie became a bookkeeper for the company. His son-in-law, Julius Smith, who was married to daughter Charna, was a clerk for A. Sadoff & Son. During this time, the family opened a warehouse on West Cotton Street that was used to store all of the scrap metal and junk.

Abraham and Rebecca Sadoff left the scrap metal business in the early 1920s. They opened a furniture store at their North Main Street home. The two lived upstairs with their children, while the store operated downstairs. Abraham and Rebecca were said to be “good and conscientious citizens.” ²⁶ In 1923, Ben Sadoff had acquired the entire company of A. Sadoff & Son from his father. He renamed the company Ben Sadoff Iron & Metal, keeping the Cotton Street location. Ben Sadoff was beginning to build his business empire in Fond du Lac.

In addition to his expanding role in business, Ben Sadoff began his own family. On June 24, 1923, Ben Sadoff married Dina Cohen of Fond du Lac. ²⁷ Dina was the daughter of Meyer and Sophia Hodus Cohen, who had emigrated from Minsk, Russia (now Belarus). The couple married at Kehiloth Jacob Synagogue. Ben and his new bride took a honeymoon for the duration of the next month, another sign of increasing pros-perity of the family. Their new home was at 150 West Second Street. The year 1925 saw the beginning of a third generation of Sadoffs living in Fond du Lac. On March 25, Dina Sadoff gave birth to the couple’s only child, Howard. The Sadoffs planned great things for this child, whom they expected would inherit the family’s growing business concerns.

By the late 1920s, Ben was seeking other business ventures, and the growing automobile industry was an obvious choice. He opened a “super service” filling station, located on the corner of North Main and Cotton Streets. Ben’s younger brother, George, managed the station.

By 1930, Ben Sadoff Iron & Metal expanded and moved to 235 West Arndt Street. This had been the location of the Sweet Wagon Works Company. Ben Sadoff served as the President of the company. Many members of the Sadoff family were active in the business, keeping it a family operation. Ben Sadoff appointed his brother-in-law, David Nemschoff, Vice President. Nemschoff was married to Ben’s older sister, Fannie. Betty Sadoff was the firm’s secretary.

In August 1931, Ben Sadoff expanded his business empire by purchasing Wells Manufacturing Company from a creditor. Prior to his purchase, the company had only seven employees and was bankrupt. ²⁸ The company manufactured a limited number of electrical coils and radios for automobiles. ²⁹ After purchasing the company, Ben served on the Board of Directors and as President. He enjoyed the challenge of rebuilding and expanding the company, as he had done with Ben Sadoff Iron & Metal. The expansion of Wells Manufacturing began almost immediately.

Ben Sadoff bought American Motor Products, then located in New York City, in May 1938, and he moved its operations to Fond du Lac, where that business became part of the Wells Manufacturing Company expansion project. By acquiring other part manu-facturers, Ben Sadoff planned to develop the company into a well-rounded automobile parts manufacturing business, one that could offer customers a broader range of products.

As part of the acquisition of American Motors Products, Ben Sadoff relocated several of its employees to Fond du Lac. Thelma Cravet, from Brooklyn, New York, began working in the Fond du Lac office of Wells in May 1938. Ben’s younger brother, Arthur, who also worked for the company, began to court Thelma. The two were married on September 18, 1938. Ben Sadoff then made twenty-five-year-old Arthur a partner in the family businesses. ³⁰

Abraham Sadoff developed another business in Fond du Lac that was quite different from his previous interests. Badger Liquor Company opened on December 8, 1933. ³¹ The company was founded only three days after Prohibition ended. The Badger Liquor store, which served as a wholesale liquor firm, was located near the Sadoff Main Street home. Abraham’s son, David, and his son-in-law, Irving Fishelson, who was married to Leone, operated the company. Some newspaper reports concerning the year Badger Liquor was founded are inaccurate. According to both Abraham’s and David Sadoff’s obituaries, Badger Liquor Company was founded in December 1933. ³² Irving Fishelson’s obituary listed the same date. But articles from the Fond du Lac Reporter give the wholesaler’s founding date as 1935, the same date listed in Arthur Sadoff’s obituary. ³³ The Fond du Lac City Directory listed Badger Liquor Company in its 1934 edition, so this indicates that the firm was in business in 1933. ³⁴ By 1935 the company had been operating for at least one year. Perhaps this discrepancy was due to the fact that the wholesaler opened its doors only three days after Prohibition officially ended. Could a wholesaler have legally obtained an entire inventory of alcohol so quickly?

One member of the Sadoff family provided a somewhat puzzling account of Badger Liquor’s origins. Arthur Sadoff commented in 1992, “He [Abraham Sadoff] started working in a liquor store, delivering alcohol to bars from the trunk of his car. Prohibition was over and distilleries were looking for distributors. The opportunity was there and my father took it.” ³⁵ But by 1934, Abraham Sadoff was already an established businessman in the city. Why would he have been working in a liquor store, as Arthur stated? While there is no police record suggesting that Abraham Sadoff participated in any illegal acts during Prohibition, many Fond du Lac people still believe that the Sadoffs were selling illegal alcohol during Prohibition. There was support in many communities for turning a blind eye to such violations, which was why the social experiment failed.

During World War II, Ben and Arthur Sadoff adapted both Sadoff Iron & Metal and Wells Manufacturing to serve the war effort. Wells employed 375 people during the World War. They manufactured the Norden bombsight, which was used to improve the accuracy of bombs delivered from airplanes and was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the war. ³⁶ Sadoff Iron & Metal was presented with a banner from the War Production Board for its production of scrap iron. Arthur Sadoff, who was in his late twenties at the time of the war, had wanted to enlist in the Armed Services. According to his wife, Thelma, he was told by officials to stay in Fond du Lac and work at the family businesses, a not uncommon decision regarding people who worked in critical war industries.

The Sadoff family experienced a major change in the 1950s. Abraham Sadoff, the family patriarch, died on September 8, 1951. He was seventy-five years old. He had served the community as a prominent Jewish leader, businessman, and industrialist for thirty years. As a retired man, Abraham Sadoff earned statewide recognition for his accomplishments. Ben Sadoff inherited his father’s role as the leader of the family.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s the Sadoff family saw growth and change. Howard Sadoff became the President of Wells Manufacturing in 1956. He succeeded his father, Ben, who became Chairmen of the Board. Arthur Sadoff remained a co-owner. There were clear plans for Howard to assume the leadership role in the family’s industries. Unfortunately, tragedy struck.

In 1961 Howard and Arthur Sadoff were golfing at South Hills Country Club, when Howard complained of feeling ill. Arthur took Howard to Howard’s Lakewood beach home, where Howard’s wife, Isabel, called an ambulance. ³⁷ He had suffered a heart attack and died at his home the same day, May 5, 1961. He was thirty-six years old. Howard and his wife had two young daughters. Because Howard was the only child of Ben Sadoff, he had been slated to take over the family empire when his father retired.

Ben Sadoff, left without his son as a prospective successor to run Sadoff Iron & Metal and Wells Manufacturing, soon began to divest himself of his business enterprises. In December 1963, he sold Wells Manufacturing. Only in his sixties, the aging Ben Sadoff had clearly been affected by the death of his son. Wells Manufacturing was purchased by the Dyson-Kissner Corporation of New York. This privately held invest-ment firm controlled a line of manufacturing companies. In 1963 Dyson-Kissner had an estimated $200 million in assets. ³⁸ The sale of Wells Manufacturing Company started the decline of the Sadoff family role in the field of local industry.

Rebecca Sadoff died in 1963. She had been ill for several months. At the time of her death, she lived with her daughter, Rose Ruttenberg, in Fond du Lac. This death spelled the end of the generation of the Sadoff family that had originally made the deci-sion to come to Fond du Lac.

The family’s scrap metal business began to change, too. In July 1965, Sadoff Iron & Metal announced plans to merge with two Oshkosh companies, Block Iron & Supply and Sommerfeld Welders’ Supply. The three companies would be known as Sadoff & Block Industries, and resulted in an expansion of all three facilities. At that time, Sadoff Iron & Metal was one of the largest processors of scrap in the Midwest and had been in business for almost sixty years. The merger became effective on July 29, 1965. ³⁹ After the sale, Ben Sadoff retired, and for the first time in almost sixty years, he was not active in local industry.

The Sadoff family was not exclusively involved in business, for they contributed greatly to the Fond du Lac Jewish community by organizing both the local temple and by developing a Jewish section at Rienzi Cemetery. There had been Jewish residents in Fond du Lac since the latter part of the nineteenth century, but a formal place of worship for local Jews was not established until 1914. Abraham Sadoff was a key figure in organizing the “Religious Society of Kehiloth Jacob,” founded October 1, 1914. ⁴⁰ Jewish religious services took place in a rented hall above the current Model Laundry, at the corner of Forest Avenue and Macy Street. In 1922, a permanent place of worship was purchased on the corner of Ruggles Street and Military Road. The building, a one-story frame house of two rooms, was named the Kehiloth Jacob Synagogue. Abraham Sadoff played a major role in organizing the Kehiloth Jacob Temple and in establishing a con-gregation burial ground in Rienzi Cemetery. In 1959, ground was broken at 149 East Division Street for Temple Beth Israel. ⁴¹ The new temple had been Abraham Sadoff’s dream. According to Thelma Sadoff, his family built the temple in his honor.

In 1967, Ben Sadoff was honored as a civic leader by the Jewish National Fund of Wisconsin. Ben had also done work on behalf of the State of Israel, and he was honored with a plaque commemorating his donation of 2,500 trees for the John F. Kennedy Memorial and Peace Forest in Israel. The peace forest, located high in the Judean hills outside Jerusalem, was dedicated in 1966. It was established by the Jewish National Fund with money collected by American Jewry and by non-Jews who contributed in memory of President Kennedy. The forest of six million trees was planted in memory of the Jews murdered during the Holocaust. ⁴²

Ben Sadoff was also recognized for his accomplishments in the automotive indus-try. In 1969, although he was retired at the time, American Automotive Accessories Manufacturers of America honored him at an automotive show in Chicago. Sadoff, the former owner and President of Wells Manufacturing, a nationally-known auto parts pro-ducer, was respected in the business for his development of mass merchandising in the automotive parts industry.

As a retirement project, Ben Sadoff purchased U. S. Dimension Products in March 1970. It was one of the country’s largest producers of coin banks and promotional supplies. In terms of its products, this enterprise was different from the other businesses that Ben had owned. He was Chairman of the Board, and Arthur Sadoff served as Presi-dent. The company was located in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. Because of the brothers’ ages and the company’s location, at some distance from Fond du Lac, they did not own the business long. They found commuting to be more arduous than they had expected. ⁴³

Transition in the family continued. Dina Sadoff, Ben’s wife, died in 1970. That September, Irving Fishelson, Leone Sadoff’s husband, passed away, too. Irving Fishelson had co-founded Badger Liquor Company. At the time of his death, his son, Bob, was Vice President in charge of operations. Bob Fishelson had begun working for the company in 1957. Arthur Sadoff, who had served as officer and co-owner of both Sadoff Iron & Metal and Wells Manufacturing, took over Badger Liquor. Arthur’s son, Ron, born in 1941, joined the company at the same time. The remaining Sadoff firm in Fond du Lac, Badger Liquor, moved to Morris Street, where it is still located, in 1971.

Ben Sadoff was an important philanthropist in Fond du Lac, both for the Jewish community and for the city as a whole. He was also a major benefactor to Marian College, a Catholic institute of higher education, organized by the Congregation of St. Agnes. The present Marian campus opened in September 1966. At that time, the campus consisted of two academic buildings, a classroom building and a science center.

Ben Sadoff had a long and friendly relationship with Marian College and espe-cially with its President, Sister Sheila Burns, despite the fact that he was Jewish and the college (and Sister Sheila) were Roman Catholic. He served on the College’s Board of Trustees for three years. Both Ben and Arthur Sadoff served as chairman of the College horse show. The shows were held at the county fairgrounds and proved to be a major fundraiser for the school.

In May 1967, Ben Sadoff was once again recognized for his outstanding achievements, as Marian College bestowed on him an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree. The college believed that he was deserving of the honor because of his distinguished community service and his contributions to educational and civic welfare in Fond du Lac. ⁴⁴ Sadoff, a long time civic leader, philanthropist, and industrialist, received this acknowledgement of his many contributions, accomplishments of a man who had left high school at age seventeen and had never completed a formal education.

In 1975, the Marian College Board of Directors recommended naming the school’s science building for Ben Sadoff. At its May 14 meeting, a motion was passed that the Marian College Science Hall be named Lazynski and Sadoff Hall. Walter Lazynski, another major benefactor of the college, declined the offer. In a vote by the Board on May 21, 1975, by a seven to three margin, it was decided to name the science classroom building “Ben Sadoff Science Center.” ⁴⁵ At that time, it was estimated that Sadoff had raised over $500,000 for Marian College.

Civic recognition followed. To honor the dynamic citizen, October 30, 1971 was proclaimed by the City Council as “Ben Sadoff Day” in Fond du Lac. Ben Sadoff was

Ben Sadoff at Marian College Horse Show, ca. 1964

honored for his community service involvement, including his work to establish the Blandine House. In the late 1960s, the County of Fond du Lac leaders had identified a need for a halfway house for recovering alcoholics. The Fond du Lac County budget lacked funds for such a project. Ben Sadoff set a goal to raise the money for the halfway house, identified a location for the house, and sparked the fund drive to make the Blandine House a reality. ⁴⁶

To honor Ben Sadoff on his day, a reception was held in the gymnasium at St. Mary’s Middle School on Merrill Avenue. A dinner was served, along with a ceremony reflecting on the many accomplishments of his life. Tickets to the event sold out fast. Ben spoke at the end of the reception, saying he wanted to continue to serve the people of Fond du Lac. Following the reception, a private party was held at the South Hills Coun-try Club. Ben Sadoff’s nephews, Bob Fishelson and Ron and Gary Sadoff, hosted this event.

In 1981 Marian College built a gymnasium. It cost $800,000 and opened in October 1981. Ben Sadoff had donated $135,000 to the school for the building, and he requested that the gym be named for his son, Howard. The Board agreed to the request because of a number of factors. Ben had served on the Board of Directors and had given substantial amounts of money to the College in the past. The Sadoff family’s efforts during the horse shows had also generated a considerable amount of money for the College each year. ⁴⁷ The Howard Sadoff Memorial Gymnasium was dedicated on January 21, 1982. A dinner and a reception were held at the College honoring both Ben and his deceased son Howard. Ben Sadoff’s contributions to the school during the previous eighteen years were acknowledged, and Ben’s love for his son was cited as a reflection of values that Marian College wanted to pass on to its students.

Ben Sadoff died August 12, 1990, at his sister’s home in Lakewood Beach. He maintained residences in Fond du Lac and in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. But by that time, many of the Sadoffs no longer lived in Fond du Lac, and the family’s influence on the city had begun to wane. Howard Sadoff’s children, Debra and Julie Sadoff, lived in Chicago.

Arthur and Thelma Sadoff celebrated sixty years of marriage in 1998. Arthur passed away on February 1, 1999. Members of Arthur’s family were the only Sadoffs who did not move away from Fond du Lac. Today, they operate the liquor business that their grandfather, Abraham Sadoff, began.

Over the last twenty years the Jewish population of Fond du Lac has suffered a notable decline. At the time of the completion of the new temple, in 1959, there were nearly sixty Jewish families in the city. Because Abraham and Rebecca Sadoff had nine children, their family constituted much of the Jewish community. But the Sadoff grand-children left for college, and most did not return. Often they married non-residents and moved away.

Indicative of the decline of the Jewish community is the closure of their place of worship. According to Thelma Sadoff, part of the reason for the decline in the number of Jewish families practicing in Fond du Lac has been controversy between members of the congregation and the current Rabbi, who is an Orthodox Jew. Orthodox Jews claim a total commitment to written and oral religious law, rejecting accommodation to new ideas and changes in life; they seek to maintain traditional Jewry. According to Mrs. Sadoff, most Jewish families in Fond du Lac follow the Conservative tradition, which is more flexible than the Orthodox. Conservative Judaism seeks a middle ground; Jewish law is maintained, but Conservative Jews accept the need for growth, change, and accom-modation to the modern world. This difference over religious tradition and practice caused clashes between the Rabbi and some temple members and led many people to stop attending the Fond du Lac Temple.

In any event, Temple Beth Israel in Fond du Lac is no longer open on a regular basis. If Jewish families require services performed, they are allowed to open the build-ing, but it is the family’s responsibility to hire a rabbi and clean the building. It costs about $600 to conduct a service. Because of the small number of Jewish residents and the cost of opening the building, no functions take place on a regular basis. At one time Arthur Sadoff and his sons paid for most of the building’s upkeep. As it is no longer cost-efficient to use Temple Beth Israel, most of the Jews in Fond du Lac attend holiday services in Oshkosh.

The businesses that Abraham Sadoff and his children built are flourishing today. Sadoff & Rudoy Industries still carries the family’s name, even though the company was sold in 1965. There are no Sadoffs now affiliated with the firm. The company serves a family of worldwide businesses in the area of manufacturing, commercial, and melt industries. Sadoff & Rudoy provide scrap metal recycling services to industries. The company has three divisions and nine locations; there are over 300 employees. All of this began in 1906 with Abraham Sadoff and his wagon.

Badger Liquor is now the largest liquor distributor in Wisconsin. The 100,000 square-foot warehouse is located at 850 Morris Street. It is still a family operation. Abraham Sadoff’s grandchildren run the business. Ron Sadoff is the President and his brother, Gary, is Vice President. Bob Fishelson is also active in the operations of Badger Liquor. Additional facilities have opened in Green Bay and Milwaukee in recent years, but the company’s center of operations remains in Fond du Lac. ⁴⁸

Wells Manufacturing, the company that Ben Sadoff transformed in the 1930s, also operates today. The business opened a warehouse in Iowa in 1986 and built a plant in Mexico three years later. Wells Manufacturing is a business giant that operates quietly from its headquarters in Fond du Lac.

When Abraham and Rebecca Sadoff came to America from Russia in 1906, they were in search of a better life. America, they hoped, would allow them to prosper economically. Most immigrants had high expectations upon their arrival in the United States, but the success that Abraham Sadoff and his family enjoyed scarcely could have been imagined upon his arrival. The businesses his family formed still affect the Fond du Lac community today, almost one hundred years later, and the Sadoffs have left an indelible mark on the community’s development.

1 - “Ben Sadoff’s Story,” The Reporter, October 27, 1971. return

2 - Ronald Sanders, Shores of Refuge, A Hundred Years of Jewish Emigration (New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1988), 23. return

3 - Rabbi Benjamin Blech, Jewish History and Culture (New York: Alpha Books, 1999), 371. return

4 - Thelma Sadoff Interview, October 14, 2001. return

5 - “Pioneer Leader In Business Life of City is Dead,” Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter, September 8, 1951. return

6 - “Sadoff, Jewish Leader, Dies,” Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter, September 8, 1951. return

7 - William Cronon, Wisconsin’s Past and Present, A Historical Atlas (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1998), 24-25. return

8 - Cronon, 24-25. return

9 - Blech, 221. return

10 - “Sadoff, Jewish Leader, Dies,” Fond du Lac Commonwealth Reporter September 8, 1951. return

11 - “David Sadoff,” The Reporter March 5, 1976. return

12 - Fond du Lac City Directory 1907, 256. return

13 - Fond du Lac City Directory 1907, 256. return

14 - Fond du Lac City Directory 1911, 264. return

15 - “An Honor Well Deserved,” The Commonwealth Reporter, May 17, 1967. return

16 - Fond du Lac City Directory 1916, 59. return

17 - Fred Weller, Achievements in Fond du Lac During the 1900’s (Fond du Lac, Wisconsin: Action Printing, 1982), 86. return

18 - Fond du Lac City Directory 1913, 275. return

19 - Fond du Lac City Directory 1916, 59. return

20 - Fond du Lac City Directory 1913, 112. return

21 - “Ben Sadoff,” The Reporter, August 12, 1990. return

22 - “An Honor Well Deserved,” The Commonwealth Reporter, May 12, 1967. return

23 - “Ben Sadoff’s Story,” The Reporter, October 27, 1971. return

24 - “An Honor Well Deserved,” The Commonwealth Reporter, May 12, 1967. return

25 - Fond du Lac City Directory 1921, 439. return

26 - “An Honor Well Deserved,” The Commonwealth Reporter, May 12, 1967. return

27 - “Three Hundred Guests Attend Big Reception,” The Commonwealth Reporter, June 25, 1923. return

28 - “Ben Sadoff’s Story,” The Reporter, October 27, 1971. return

29 - “Wells Manufacturing Corporation,” The Reporter, December 6, 1999. return

30 - Thelma Sadoff Interview, October 14, 2001. return

31 - “Irving Fishelson,” The Reporter, September 18, 1970. return

32 - “David Sadoff,” The Reporter, March 5, 1976. return

33 - “Arthur Sadoff,” The Reporter, February 2, 1999. return

34 - Fond du Lac City Directory 1934, 300. return

35 - “Badger Liquor Company, Inc.,” The Reporter, (Monthly Column) August 1992. return

36 - “Local Industry played a Key Role,” The Reporter, June 6, 1985; “Wells Manufacturing Corporation,” The Reporter, December 6, 1999. return

37 - Thelma Sadoff Interview, October 14, 2001. return

38 - “Wells Has New Warehouse In Atlanta,” The Reporter, September 1, 1966. return

39 - “Sadoff Iron Metal Firm Merger Plans Announced,” The Reporter, July 29, 1965. return

40 - Weller, 198-199. return

41 - Weller, 198-199. return

42 - “Wisconsin Jewish Fund Honors Local Civic Leader,” The Reporter, October 19, 1967. return

43 - Thelma Sadoff Interview, October 8, 2001. return

44 - “71 Will Receive Marian College Degree,” The Commonwealth Reporter, May 11, 1967. return

45 - Marian College Board of Directors Meeting Minutes (Cardinal Meyer Library: Marian College Archives), May 21, 1975. return

46 - “Fond du Lac Pauses to Honor Dynamic Citizen Ben Sadoff,” The Reporter, October 29, 1971. return

47 - Marian College Board of Directors Meeting Minutes (Cardinal Meyer Library: Marian College Archives), September 16, 1981. return

48 - “Badger Liquor is Biggest Distributor in the State,” The Reporter, February 14, 2000. return

Copyright 2002 by Clarence B. Davis. All Rights Reserved. Printed by Action Printing, Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
Electronic publication by Fond du Lac Public Library has been approved by Clarence B. Davis.

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