Len Frost, the Heights Handyman, has died at 85 the Brooklyn Eagle reports. The cause was lung cancer. A memorial service will be held Saturday May 22 11am at Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims.
Brooklyn Eagle: Len Frost was born in 1924 in Brooklyn. His father Max owned, with a partner, a musical instrument case factory on Tillary Street (now a co-op). His mother Anna worked for his father until they married. As a child, Frost took rides in Prospect Park in a horse-drawn wagon driven by his uncle, and attended vaudeville with his father. At one vaudeville performance he shook the hand of the vice-president of the United States (most likely John Nance Garner IV — “Cactus Jack”), who arrived with four or five men in attendance.
He joined the army at the age of 17, just in time for World War II, arriving on Omaha Beach on June 8, D-Day Plus 2. He fought throughout Europe and saw the concentration camps at the war’s end. Upon his return to Brooklyn he married Caroline Mayers, moved to Flushing, and had three children. He worked in the factory for his father and then held a variety of jobs, including selling used cars and owning (with a partner) Stan-Frost Motors, an automobile agency in Lynbrook, New York. In the 1960s he operated a bookstore on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights called Paperback Books, where he sold books and greeting cards. The shop was successful but after seven years the landlord doubled the rent, forcing Frost to close.
After a divorce Mr. Frost became a fan of Bob Dylan, moved to Brooklyn Heights, and learned to do repairs and renovations. He eventually became the on-call handyman to many Heights residents and at one point had hundreds of keys hanging on his peg board. He married his present wife Mary, a Brooklyn Eagle reporter, in the 1980s (neglecting to tell her his true age until later) and had a child with her in 1995.
BHB extends its condolences to Mr. Frost’s family, especially Mary who has been a true friend of ours and this endeavor from Day One.
