Michael Allen Prevor of Boca Raton, FL, died of pancreatic cancer on Sunday, January 15, 2012. He was at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was undergoing an innovative immunotherapy clinical trial designed to advance the science so that pancreatic cancer may one day be cured. His wife, Roslyn Prevor, and his children were by his side.
He was born June 27, 1936, in Brooklyn, NY. He graduated from Lincoln High School in 1954 and the Baruch School of Business of the City College of New York in 1958. After completing his military service at Ft. Dix, NJ, he joined his family’s long established fruit and vegetable distribution business and transformed it into a world leader in the import and export of fresh produce and other foodstuffs. He took the company public, the first non-banana produce company to achieve that status, and, ultimately, sold the business to a European-based concern. Following his retirement from the produce trade, he successfully invested his own capital in the financial markets.
Growing up, his family homes had been in the Brighton Beach, Coney Island and Mill Basin sections of Brooklyn. He left home to marry his high school sweetheart, Roslyn, and they moved to Canarsie, then Sheepshead Bay and then bought a home in Albertson in Nassau County. Ultimately they raised their children in Oyster Bay Cove, NY, also on Long Island, before relocating to Florida. He loved animals, established with his wife, The Prevor Family Foundation to support good works of all kinds. He served on the Board of Directors of the Hunts Point Terminal Produce Cooperative and was continuously a member of various synagogues for over 40 years.
He is survived by his wife of 54 years, Roslyn Prevor, and their three children — James Prevor and his wife Debra; Barry Prevor and his wife Abbe; Cheryl Prevor Faerber and her husband Roy — and six grandchildren — Harrison Prevor, Benjamin Prevor, Alexandra Prevor, William Prevor, Matthew Prevor and Jacqueline Faerber, as well as his two brothers, Sydney Prevor and his wife Ruth, and William Prevor and his wife Beatrice.
A memorial service was held on January 18, 2012, at 2:00 PM at Congregation B’nai Israel in Boca Raton. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be sent to The Prevor Family Fund for Immunotherapy Cancer Research at The University of Pennsylvania at 3535 Market St., Suite 750, Philadelphia, PA 19104. You can donate on line through www.PrevorFamilyFund.Org. He will be sorely missed.