Eli Kwartler, 89, died Saturday, August 3 at his home in Pelham after several months of declining health. He had been discharged from the hospital two days earlier into hospice care by his own choice and continued to participate in decision making once he was at home. Over those two days, he had the opportunity to talk with most of his immediate family members and several close friends, along with some of the valued caregivers who had been assisting him over the past months.

Born December 15, 1929 to Sol and Clara (Ostrager) Kwartler in Brooklyn, New York, Eli remained there through high school, college, and young adulthood. He experienced a traumatic and disruptive childhood. His father left when he was two, and his mother could not care for him due to her ill health. Eli began a journey through a number of relatives’ households. Along the way, he learned that reading opened doors to seeing other ways of living, and he spent much time in the public library, a practice he maintained until the end of his life. After a number of years and court battles, he returned to live with his father in a series of furnished rooms, earning his own income through busing dishes in Catskills hotels, guessing weights on Coney Island and hustling pool. Eli’s father did not approve of Eli’s aspiring to a college education, so, after graduating from high school in 1947, Eli joined the army to take advantage of the G.I. Bill.

The next few years were eventful. Eli entered and graduated from Pace College, where he majored in business; as a reservist, he was called up in 1950 during the Korean War to become a paratrooper in the 11th Airborne Division, but a medical condition kept him stateside right before deployment and led to his discharge.

He married Adele Behrman in 1950, and his daughter Karen was born in 1952, followed by his son Jonathan in 1953. Daughter Dianne was born in 1957. Work was hard to come by with the country in recession, and he worked many entry-level jobs until he was given an opportunity as a sales trainee at Eastern Corrugated Industries in Clifton, NJ, an hour and a half commute from his family in Brooklyn. Between 1955 and 1962, Eli moved upwards in the company, gaining financial independence from his in-laws, and moving the company first to Albany, NY, where it became Tri-City Container, and later to Northampton, MA, although the family resided in Longmeadow. Eli worked hard, often making grueling commutes, or driving great distances for sales and deliveries. He put in long hours to provide for his family, but he later acknowledged that his frequent absences did not allow him to be a good father and husband, and the result was a divorce from Adele in 1967.

Around this time, he began his first volunteer efforts, doing drug counseling with teenagers as well as working on a crisis hot line. He also took a trip to England and Scotland in 1969, his first trip abroad, traveling by himself just to see if he could do it. This trip and his adventurous spirit would eventually lead to exploring all 50 states, all seven continents and countries as diverse as North Korea, Iran, Papua New Guinea and Kazakhstan.

He began another journey when he was accepted in 1971 to the University of Massachusetts program in counseling, receiving an M.Ed. in 1973. He became chairman of the Hampshire United Way Board, and in 1975 moved into a house he had built in Pelham. That same year he met Barbara Jenkins, and the following year she and her four-year-old daughter Eve moved into the Pelham house with him. Tri-City Container had been bought out by a major conglomerate, Packaging Corporation of America (Tenneco), and Eli, feeling dissatisfied, left PCA to join Rand Whitney in 1980 as vice president and general manager.

After an abrupt departure from that company four years later, Eli could not find a position at his level locally, so he launched a consulting business, which he always described as frightening, but which led to success and enjoyment as he worked with companies across the United States and internationally throughout the ‘90s. He created and organized the Packaging Alliance Network, an alliance of independent container companies formed in order to compete successfully with giant national companies. He was always proud that he could gain the trust of competing companies throughout his consulting career, so that they did not fear his betraying their confidences.

In the ‘70s and into the ‘80s and ‘90s, he watched his children marry and gradually have their own children. In 1995, he and Barbara married. In 2000, he almost lost his life due to an allergic reaction to a blood plasma transfusion after hip surgery. He recovered enough so that one year later on 9/11, he heard news of the attacks while traveling in Tibet and then Vietnam. He continued to travel and he continued to have life-threatening accidents, illnesses and recoveries, so that all agreed he had lived his nine lives and more.

As his professional career wound down, he looked for continued meaningful opportunities to volunteer. He spent a month in Thailand working with a container company through a government agency that placed specialists internationally. He became involved in the town of Pelham first on the finance committee and then as a selectman, he became active in the Jewish Community of Amherst, eventually becoming co-president, he served on the boards of the Amherst Survival Center and the Literacy Project, and he was a counselor with SCORE advising start-up entrepreneurs. He was pleased to be able to help organizations, such as The Care Center in Holyoke, with financial gifts and took strong interest in fundraising for them and following their progress. During the last years of his life, he trained and worked weekly as a volunteer for SHINE, a program that provides free, one-on-one health insurance counseling to Medicare beneficiaries.

Eli is survived by his wife, Barbara Benda Jenkins, his son Jonathan Kwartler (Rochelle) of Cherry Hill, NJ; his daughter Dianne Jensen of Old Saybrook, CT; his stepdaughter Eve Jenkins (John Monch) of Takoma Park, MD; his grandchildren George Mock of Southwick, Kevin Mock (Cara) of Indian Orchard, David and Joshua Kwartler of Philadelphia PA, Megan Sher (Adam) of Falls Village, CT, Wesley Jensen of Groton, CT, and stepgrandchild Elliot Davey of Takoma Park; his great grandsons Eli and Noah Sher and Kevin Mock, Jr; his brother-in-law James Benda of Des Moines, Iowa and a number of other family members and dear friends. He was predeceased by his daughter Karen Harper in 2017.

Making it possible for Eli to stay in his own home as his health declined were members of the Cooley Dickinson VNA and Hospice teams along with caregivers from Homewatch Caregivers and Debcor Home Care.

Memorial gifts may be made in Eli’s name to SHINE Program, LifePath, Inc., 01 Munson Street, Suite 201, Greenfield, MA 01301, or to The Jewish Community of Amherst, 742 Main Street, Amherst, MA 01002.