Necrology

Ellis “Brud” Saul Tarsches '48

Oct. 26, 1927-Mar. 31, 2021

Ellis “Brud” Saul Tarsches ’48 died on March 31, 2021, in Palm Beach, Fla. Born in Binghamton, N.Y., on Oct. 26, 1927, he attended Binghamton Central High School before Hamilton. 

On the Hill he majored in political science and history and was a member of the Squires Club. He played on the tennis team, managed the basketball team, and was a cheerleader as both a junior and senior. He joined the Charlatans as a freshman and the Winter Carnival planning committee as a junior. Through his junior year, he was on the staff of Hamiltonews, the predecessor of The Spectator, serving as its business manager in his sophomore year. Allegedly, he and some of his friends at some point took it upon themselves to provide a possibly unwelcome service to first-year students: waking them at 5 a.m. to ensure that they were not “late” to their morning classes.

Upon graduating, Brud worked as sales manager at Botnick Motor Corp. in Binghamton, which his family owned. He married Sheila Keats in August 1948, but theirs was a short-lived union. On March 11, 1951, he wed Jeanne Rubin in Binghamton. They had a daughter, Amy, and a son, Russell. That same year he also joined the U.S. Air Force where he was a purchasing agent. Honorably discharged in 1955, he rejoined the family business until 1959, when he left to work in insurance.

In 1961, the Tarscheses moved, Brud enrolled at the University of Miami to prepare to become a certified public accountant, and he was hired by the firm of Thompson & Nichols as a staff accountant. Earning his degree in accounting in 1965, he became a partner in the firm and stayed until 1978 when he established his own accounting company with his son. 

By 1980, the family had moved to Jupiter, Fla. He and Jeanne were among the founders of Temple Beth Am in Jupiter, where he served as president and on its board of directors. Brud also became a leadership training facilitator for the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. Concurrently, he was very involved with the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation, both on its board of directors and as its treasurer. He retired in November 1997 and continued his leadership at his synagogue while also following the Miami Dolphins and the Miami Marlins.

In his 50th reunion yearbook, Brud said he had fond memories of basketball coach Mox Weber, Professor of English Thomas Johnston, Professor of English George Nesbit ’24, Professor of History David Ellis ’38, and Upson Professor of Rhetoric Willard “Swampy” Marsh. He said Hamilton provided “the fantastic liberal education [that] has always been with me in my relationships with my fellow human beings and the conduct of my business.”

Ellis S. Tarsches is survived by his two children. His wife predeceased him by five months.

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