50 years after the fact, news story is finished

BY DICK METZGAR
Staff Writer

“The borough was much smaller when I was growing up. In those days, I knew everybody in town. I still have a lot of friends in the town.” — Eugene W. Landy Rest assured, readers of the News Transcript Yesteryear column, things turned out just fine for Eugene W. Landy.

Within recent weeks, in the 50 Years Ago portion of the Yesteryear column, news accounts from the old Freehold Transcript told the story of how Landy, then 21, was in the center of a controversy that was not all that uncommon in the early 1950s.

Fifty years ago, shortly before his graduation from the United States Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA) at Kings Point, N.Y., Landy, of Freehold Borough, was informed that he was being denied his commission in the Navy Reserve because his mother, Deborah Landy, had once been a member of the Freehold Communist Club.

Somehow, Landy and his mother had become targets of the infamous Communist witch hunts launched primarily by U.S. Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin.

Thousands of innocent and unsuspecting Americans were caught up in McCarthy’s purge, and many had their careers and lives ruined because of it.

Landy’s case drew the attention of the U.S. Secretary of the Navy Charles Thomas, who intervened and promised Landy a full and impartial review of the case before a special Navy board.

That’s where the story ended until a few weeks ago, when a News Transcript reporter looked in the Monmouth County telephone book and found a listing for a Eugene W. Landy. A phone call to that person revealed him to be the same person that had been written about in 1955.

In the end, Landy did get his commission, had a good career in the military and today is a successful lawyer and business entrepreneur in the Freehold area. Now 71, Landy lives in Rumson with his wife, Gloria.

He became a licensed third mate, sailing on merchant ships, and a lieutenant junior grade in the Naval Reserve.

Landy graduated from the Yale University Law School in 1958 and today is a member of the Yale Law School’s Executive Committee. He is also active with the Alumni Executive Committee at the USMMA.

In addition to being the senior partner in the law firm of Landy and Landy, Freehold, he is one of the founders and is president of Monmouth Real Estate Investment Corp., a publicly owned Real Estate Investment Trust with offices in Freehold Township.

Although he was originally denied his commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve following his graduation from the USMMA, class of 1955, through the intervention of Thomas, Landy did receive his commission. Landy said he believes that then-Vice President Richard Nixon also approved the commission.

He had finished second academically in his class.

Landy was born in the Perrineville section of Millstone Township on Nov. 6, 1933. Several years later the family moved to Freehold Borough where his mother would find work as a seamstress.

In an interview with the News Transcript, Landy said he had never heard of the Freehold Commu-nist Club. However, during the 1930s a number of workers’ union organizations emerged, and it is possible that the club was one of the union organizations of the day.

Landy was a product of the borough’s school system, attending grammar school at the Hudson Street and Broad Street schools, and high school at Freehold High School, graduating in 1951.

He starred for the Colonials’ football team, playing guard on offense and linebacker on defense, and would star at both positions while attending the USMMA. He also starred in tennis at Freehold High School and he played that sport at the academy.

“I still play tennis,” Landy said.

Landy said he was very proud of his mother, who raised three sons during the hard times of the Great Depression.

“She worked very hard as a seamstress,” he said. “There was very little money in those days and she did a great job raising three sons. Following her retirement she went to Israel. After her death at the age of 86 in 1987, she was buried in Jerusalem.”

The Landys lived at several locations in the borough, including Bowne Avenue, Hudson Street and Mechanic Street.

“The borough was much smaller when I was growing up,” Landy said. “In those days I knew everybody in town. I still have a lot of friends in the town.”

He has high praise for the USMMA.

“I owe my professional accomplishments to an outstanding educational institution, the United States Merchant Marine Academy,” he said. “More than 50 years ago I applied to the academy. It was the only school I applied to. The USMMA with its competitive exam and its free tuition and board was my only possibility for a higher education.”

He has been honored by the academy as an industry leader.

The Landys have three sons, Samuel, an attorney and president of United Mobile Homes Inc., Freehold Township; Michael, a real estate executive who is the executive vice president of Monmouth Capital Corp.; and Richard, a rabbi. The Landys have 10 grandchildren.