Stanley Janofsky loved puns and wordplay, a grandson recalls.
Stanley Janofsky, who sold homes and became a real estate office manager, died of a heart attack March 29 at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Pikesville resident was 85.
Born in Baltimore and raised on Burleith Avenue in Liberty Heights, he was the son of Morton Janofsky, a member of a family real estate firm, and his wife, Ray Rand, a homemaker.
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He was a 1952 graduate of Forest Park High School. After Forest Park, he met his future wife, Elaine Kerr. They saw each other at a Northwest Baltimore gathering spot, Paul’s Delicatessen. He asked friends who she was, and they soon began dating.
“He had such pretty, big blue eyes,” said his wife. “I went home that day and told my mother about him.” They married in 1954.
He received a bachelor’s degree in 1956 from the University of Maryland, College Park. He was a member of the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity.
He joined Mal Sherman Realty on Glengyle Avenue in the Falstaff community as a salesman.
Mr. Janofsky was involved in the 1964 acquisition of the Wilgis property, 50 acres of land on Mt. Wilson Lane, by Ner Israel Rabbinical College.
He continued in sales at Dick Diener Realty. He went on to become an office manager at the old Charles H. Steffey Realtors, Magill Yerman Realtors and O’Connor Piper and Flynn Realtors. He retired in 2010.
“Stanley was a wonderful human being,” said Michael Yerman, a real estate executive friend with whom he worked. “He had great skills with people and was a terrific office manager. He had an impressive knowledge of contract law.”
He was active in the Pikesville Chamber of Commerce and was a past president of the Realtors Million Dollar Association.
“He was my manager, my mentor, and he and his wife became my good friends. Stan was very knowledgeable in the real estate industry. Northwest Baltimore was his main area of expertise” said Ilene Becker, a Baltimore resident who sells real estate. “He was good at helping agents close a transaction when the deal was going to fall apart. He could move a difficult deal on to the settlement table. He knew contracts well. He was pleasant and warm. He could also be detail-oriented but in a helpful way.”
“It was’t unusual for Stanley to invite an out-of-town buyer over for dinner and spend the night after showing houses all day,” said his wife. “Real estate was in his blood.”
Mr. Janofsky was a dog fancier and vegetable gardener. When visiting a real estate client, he occasionally found pieces of unwanted furniture in a basement. He refinished these old ice chests, tables and chairs and furnished an apartment for one of his children.
“My grandfather was great with numbers and he loved wordplay,” said a grandson, Jaron Shaul of Baltimore. “He loved puns. I was amazed with how quickly he could spell any word backwards. He was a calming presence. He was a man of honesty, integrity and kindness.”
Another grandson recalled his grandfather’s personality.
“He was nonconfrontational man,” said his grandson, Daniel Shaul of Greenspring Valley, “He was accepting of the choices other persons made in their lives. He and my grandmother would always buy my brother and I identical gifts so there would not be any conflict even though we would have been happy to share gifts. He was punctual and precise. As a child, he took me to see the houses he was selling. He also took me to his office to watch him in action. He had one first computers with an internet connection I ever saw. He exposed me to technology at a very young age.”
Survivors include his wife of more than 64 years, Elaine Kerr; a son, Steve Janofsky of Sudbrook Park; a daughter, Ellen Janofsky of Pikesville; a brother, Arthur Janofsky of Boynton Beach, Fla.; a sister, Jane Rosoff of Naples, Fla.; three grandchildren; and a great granddaughter.
Services were held April 1 at Sol Levinson and Brothers.
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