Leon Feldman

Leon Feldman died on Wednesday, April 23, 2025 at his home in Atlanta at the age of 102. Funeral services will be held 1 p.m. on Friday, April 25 at the Brith Sholom Beth Israel Synagogue Cemetery at 198 Sycamore Avenue in Charleston, S.C. Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr Inc.

Leon was born on February 19, 1923 in the Charleston apartment that sat above the Meeting Street grocery owned by his parents, William and Gussie Feldman, Jewish immigrants from Russia and Belarus.

Leon graduated from Charleston High School in 1939 at the age of 16, Duke University in 1943, and the Emory School of Dentistry in 1946. Soon after graduating, Leon fulfilled an internship at the Navy Dental Center on Parris Island, S.C.

While on leave in Savannah in 1947, Leon stepped in for a cousin who couldn’t make a date with a young woman, Marilyn Richman. Leon and Marilyn were engaged later that year and married in 1948.

After opening his dentistry practice on Calhoun Street in Charleston in late 1947, Leon became the first dentist west of the Ashley River in 1949.

Leon performed pro bono dental work at both his office and a local dental clinic. He served as the president of the South Carolina Dental Association in 1966, and was named the Charleston Dental Society’s Man of the Year in 1979.

Though dentistry was Leon’s vocation, family was his life’s focus. The Feldman's were a massive, boisterous clan spanning several generations. With his booming voice and spirited intensity, Leon was one of its patriarchs.

Leon was a proud father, if a strict disciplinarian, and was a fixture at the recreational center and ballfields at Playground Road. He and Marilyn frequently made the drive to Atlanta for his grandchildren’s tennis tournaments, recitals, and school events. After 66 years of marriage, Leon lost Marilyn in 2014.

Much of his family life was centered around Judaism. A stalwart leader at Brith Sholom Beth Israel, Charleston’s venerable Orthodox synagogue, Leon was only the fourth member of the congregation to receive the Crown of the Good Name. He also served twice as the president of the congregation. The honor is awarded to distinguished congregants who embody the ethics and demonstrate the exemplary behavior of the Jewish ideal.

Leon was active in various civic causes in Charleston, serving terms as president of both the Junior Chamber of Commerce and the St. Andrew’s Rotary Club. In 1981, Leon became a member of the Country Club of Charleston, where he walked the full golf course well into his 80s. He was the last surviving member of his poker game that was assembled with a group of friends in the 1960s and lasted 45 years.

Leon maintained a lifelong love affair with Charleston, which he watched transform from a small city with a population of less than 70,000 at the time of his birth to a sprawling metropolis of over 700,000.

“I didn’t see much reason to ever leave Charleston,” he said. “Except to see family or a simcha, Charleston, South Carolina was always where I preferred to be, and for good reason.”

Among Leon’s passions was Duke basketball, and he rarely missed a national broadcast. In his later years, he would record night games for early morning viewing. To celebrate his 80th birthday in 2003, he and a large contingent of the Feldman family made pilgrimage to Durham to attend a game at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the first time Leon had visited the hallowed court since he graduated from Duke in 1943.

Leon spent his final years surrounded by family in Atlanta. There, he met Selma Jacobs, his romantic companion for nine years.

He is survived by his children Ellen Arnovitz Plasker (Michael Plasker) of Atlanta, Stuart Feldman of Charleston, Nancy Feldman of New York; grandchildren Kevin Arnovitz (Erich Schwartzel) of Los Angeles, Staci Arnovitz (Sam Finkelstein) of London, Aaron Feldman (Alana) of New York, William Feldman (Melissa Danesh) of Manhattan Beach, Calif., Pearl Ann Arnovitz (Andrew Rosenzweig) of Atlanta, and Jenny Eskildsen (Scott) of Chapel Hill, great grandchildren Maya and Cameron Finkelstein, Sienna and Summer Feldman, Connor, Jacob and Lucas Eskildsen, Marley and Benjamin Rosenzweig, and Asher,Lilah, and Talia Feldman, brother-in-law and sister-in-law Sanford and Sandra Richman. He also was survived by his adopted Atlanta family Shauna and Steven Grosswald, Dara and Andy Grant, Jessica and Jeff Sacks and their families as well as many nieces and nephews, great nieces and great nephews who loved and adored him.

Leon was preceded in death by parents William and Gussie Feldman, wife Marilyn Richman Feldman,son Stanley Feldman, sisters Irene Wright , Lena Solomon, and Shirley Prystowsky.