Seymour Some
Seymour J. Some, a West Orange resident since 1956, died June 7, 2017. He was born in Newark.
Mr. Some, a 1939 graduate of Weequahic High School in Newark, went on to college at University of Maryland, Columbia University, and Upsala College, receiving a bachelor of science in biology and chemistry.
During World War II, he was an adjudicator with the War Department, Special Inquiries Division, servicing inquiries from the White House, Cabinet secretaries, senators, and congressmen pertaining to the government allotments of soldiers.
Settling in Charleston, S.C., after the war, he was employed as a chemist by Pittsburgh Metallurgical Co. He joined his wife’s family’s firm, Jacobs Hosiery Co., as a salesman, calling on retail stores in South Carolina and northern Georgia. Returning to New Jersey in 1951, he established an insurance agency in Newark with his father, Louis, and his brother, Richard, known as Some’s Agency. He attended Rutgers University, taking insurance courses, and was awarded the Chartered Life Underwriter designation in 1956 at the Washington, D.C., convention of the NALU. The firm acquired the former Fidelity Union Trust Bank Building and moved to Irvington Center in 1961.
At the same time, under the direction of his brother, Aaron, Seymour, together with his father and brothers, established Some’s World of Travel. Several years later, travel branch offices were established in East Orange, Livingston, and Wayne. Franchise offices were opened in Parsippany, Linden, and Emerson. He was appointed a general agent of Franklin Life Insurance Co. in 1954, and was honored in 1994 for 40 years of service. He retired from the travel business in 1986, but stayed active in the industry teaching travel subjects in several business schools, including Middlesex County College in Edison until 1990.
He was a member of the Jewish Historical Society of MetroWest and the board of trustees of B’nai Shalom in West Orange, and was a volunteer at United Jewish Appeal of MetroWest Super Sunday campaigns. He was a member of B’nai B’rith and World Jewish Congress, American Society of Chartered Life Underwriters, and National Association of Life Underwriters. He had corresponded with Prof. Albert Einstein doing the 1940s.
Predeceased by his wife, Betty (Jacobs), in 1992, he is survived by four daughters, Patricia Klein of River Ridge, La., Marjory Some of Raleigh, N.C., Joann Wood of Raleigh, and Nancy Arnold of Half Moon Bay, Calif.; two brothers, Richard of Fairfield and Aaron of Livingston; and six grandchildren.
Services were held June 9 with arrangements by Menorah Chapels at Millburn, Union.
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