Abraham H. Lass, 1907 - 2001
Abraham Lass was born on September 16, 1907 in Brooklyn New York to Russian Jewish immigrants. When he entered elementary school in 1913, he only spoke yiddish yet managed to learn a great deal of English from the streets. He attended the Manual Training School in Brooklyn, and at the age of sixteen, he began playing the piano during silent movies at the Eagle Theater in Borough Park. He worked at the theater every weekend for four years, a job which helped him to pay for college. In 1929 he graduated from City College with his bachelor's degree, then from Columbia Teachers in College in 1931 with his master's degree.
From 1931 to 1950, Lass taught at many different high schools in the city. He was named principal of New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn in 1950, and five years later attained the same position at at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brighton Beach. He wrote and edited more than two dozen books, among them "The Way to Write" with Rudolph Flesch in 1947; "How to Prepare for College" in 1962 and "The College Student's Handbook" with Eugene Wilson in 1965. Lass also wrote a column in the New York Post for many years, as well as a syndicated column for the Herald Tribune.
Lass retired in 1971 after sixteen years as the principal of Abraham Lincoln High. He continued to write and lecture, as well as teach english to inmates on Riker's Island and foreign born doctors. He died in March of 2001 at the age of 93.