Leo Isadore Alper (1914 - 1986)

Born 13 Jan 1914 in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts

Husband of Gussie (Axelrod) Alper — married 6 Aug 1937 in Seabrook, , New Hampshire

Died Feb 1986 at age 72 in Essex County, Massachusetts

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Biography

Son of Max Alper and Rose Shenberg, both from Russia. Max was a clothing dealer.^[1]

Mayor of Gloucester

Leo was mayor of Gloucester from 1976-1984.

One essayist said that "Mayor Leo Alper, seeking election, would stand on the back of a flatbed truck during a parade and shout out expletives to hecklers. Only in Gloucester, once described as “pound for pound, the grittiest city in America.”"^[2]

The black & white environmentalist film Gloucester: The light, the quality, the time, the place includes interviews with Mayor Leo Alper as well as extensive footage of the area.

During Leo's time as mayor, the town's reaction to the Unification Church's purchase of waterfront property made national news.^[3][4][5]

Sources

1. ↑ "Massachusetts, Births, 1841-1915," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FXVP-8ST : accessed 24 May 2015), Leo Isadore Alper, 13 Jan 1914; citing Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts, reference page 511, Massachusetts Archives, Boston; FHL microfilm 2,409,799.
2. ↑ Warren Watson, "A departed friend and mentor and my days in a journalism incubator on Cape Ann." Society of American Business Editors and Writers.
3. ↑ GLOUCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS / UNIFICATION CHURCH #63340 ABC Evening News for Sunday, Nov 30, 1980 http://dev-tvnews.library.vanderbilt.edu/broadcasts/63340
4. ↑ "GLOUCESTER'S ALARM AT MOON'S CHURCH ABATES", New York Times January 9, 1984 http://www.nytimes.com/1984/01/09/us/gloucester-s-alarm-at-moon-s-church-abates.html
5. ↑ John Deedy, "The Unification Church and the City of Gloucester". Theology Today, Vol 37, No. 4, January 1981. http://www.tparents.org/Library/Unification/Talks1/Deedy/Deedy-810100.htm

• "United States Social Security Death Index," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VMN4-BNL : accessed 24 May 2015), Leo Alper, Feb 1986; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).
• "New Hampshire, Marriage Records, 1637-1947," index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FLCX-KQM : accessed 24 May 2015), Max Alper in entry for Leo Isadore Alper and Gussie Axelrod, 06 Aug 1937; citing Seabrook, , New Hampshire, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord; FHL microfilm 2,057,172.