[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 162 (Wednesday, October 26, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1939]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              IN REMEMBRANCE OF SANFORD ``CORKY'' KURLAND

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                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, October 26, 2011

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise to remember Sanford ``Corky'' 
Kurland, co-founder and owner of Corky & Lenny's, the popular 
Cleveland-area restaurant and deli. Corky passed away last Saturday 
after a long illness.
  Corky Kurland was a native Clevelander and a 1948 graduate of 
Glenville High School. He worked with his father Carl Kurland on a food 
truck and helped at a small grocery store that his parents bought on 
Union Avenue. After graduating from meat cutting school in Toledo, he 
went to work at the Miami Restaurant at East 105th and Euclid in the 
then-bustling Uptown section of Cleveland. He enlisted in the U.S. Army 
and became a chef at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1952. When he returned 
to Cleveland, he took a job as a counterman and manager at Eddie Sands 
Deli at Cedar Center in South Euclid. When Sands decided to sell his 
deli, Corky Kurland became a partner with Dave Katz, who already owned 
a deli on Lakeshore Boulevard. After a year, Katz wanted to stay on 
Lakeshore and sold his share of the business to Corky and Lenny Kaden, 
a mutual friend who was then in the menswear business. Corky and Lenny 
became partners and renamed the business ``Corky & Lenny's'' in 1956. 
In 1973, Corky and Lenny opened a second deli on Chagrin Boulevard in 
Woodmere. In 1991, Corky's son Kenny and his nephew Earl Stein bought 
out Lenny Kaden's share of the business and the three have been 
partners ever since. The partners closed the Cedar Center location in 
1994 but celebrated 55 years in business recently at the Chagrin 
Boulevard store.
  Corky & Lenny's is a true meeting place. Many business deals have 
occurred there, as have many blind dates, some that became marriages. 
Corky & Lenny's is a magnet for celebrities when they come to town. 
Actors and comedians such as Totie Fields, Liberace, Joel Gray, Shecky 
Greene, Sammy Davis Jr., Jackie Mason, Frankie Valli; athletes 
including Jim Thome, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Mike Brown, Moe Vaughn, Wally 
Szcwebiak, and Mike Holmgren; and elected officials, including Howard 
Metzenbaum and John Glenn have been spotted there. I have been a patron 
of Corky & Lenny's since my days as a caddy at east-side golf courses 
while still a teenager. I had breakfast there just last week. And as 
usual, I saw people there whom I have known for many years.
  Corky Kurland was active in his community and liked to spend time 
with his family. He was a frequent traveler who made friends wherever 
he went. He was a member of Beth Am and B'nai Jeshurun synagogues, the 
Knights of Pythias, the Masons, the Kiwanis, the Beachwood Chamber of 
Commerce, the Jewish Community Center, the Jewish War Veterans, the 
Lake Forest Country Club and the Hawthorne Country Club.
  Mr. Speaker and respected colleagues, please join me in mourning the 
loss of Sanford ``Corky'' Kurland. I send my sincere condolences to his 
wife of 57 years, Gloria; his son Kenny; his daughter Dr. Susan Kurland 
Rapkin; his sister Helen Manheim; his 6 grandchildren; his extended 
family; his many friends, and the loyal patrons of Corky & Lenny's.

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