(JTA) — (Jewish Exponent via JTA) — Saul Victor owned Pearlstein’s Furniture in Philadelphia but loved to song, later becoming a professional lead singer in his own band, the Saul Victor Trio.

“There wasn’t a bar or bat mitzvah, there was never a wedding or a friend’s simcha, that he wouldn’t get up with the band and sing Neil Diamond’s ‘Sweet Caroline,’” said his wife, Beverly. “That was his signature song, along with Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way.’”

Victor died of complications of COVID-19 on Dec. 29. He was 82.

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Beverly Victor said he was the ultimate family man, and the family was not just his children and grandchildren. Nieces and nephews considered him a beloved second father figure.

People have reached out to say they remember her husband’s ability to listen.

“If you would meet Saul today and have a conversation, you would walk away knowing that he heard everything you said,” she said. “And then if you met him a month or six months from now, he would remind you of that conversation and what he had learned from you.”

Victor was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and spent his younger years living in Atlantic City, New Jersey, before his family eventually settled in Philadelphia. After high school, he helped his father in the family paperhanging business before starting his own, serving in the Army and marrying his high school sweetheart, Sybil Schwartz. They later separated.

This article was originally published in the Jewish Exponent as part of its COVID-19 obituary coverage.

The post Saul Victor, 82, lead singer in the band he founded appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

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