Travels with Charlie: A profile of BOLLI's Charlie Raskin
March 28, 2023
by Na’ama Ansell
It is with sadness we note the passing of longtime BOLLI member, Charlie Raskin. Na’ama Ansell visited with Charlie in 2021 to learn more about him, his family, and other aspects of his well-lived life. He will be missed.
“I was born in the back of my family’s candy store, located next to the Otis Elevator Company in Yonkers, New York”, Charlie Raskin told me when we recently sat down for a conversation. No doubt an unusual place to be born, but for Charlie a uniquely warm and comfortable one since his family was quite well-known by their neighbors. He recalls that at the end of each day, “People coming down the elevator would stop by the store to chat with us before heading for home.” Is it any wonder that with these beginnings Charlie, a member of the BOLLI board of advisors, became the super-friendly, enthusiastic person whom we know?
A graduate of Delaware Valley University in Pennsylvania, with a major in agriculture, Charlie initially wanted to go into farming, but after a trial period, decided that he couldn’t adjust to the mores of farm life. One day, while walking down Madison Avenue in New York City, gazing at shop windows, he became intrigued when he “saw a window display of men’s and women’s accessories. I walked into their office, asked for a job, and was hired on the spot.” He was soon given all of New England as his sales territory.
Charlie then spent the next 45 years on the road selling all manner of clothing throughout Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, all the way down to Westchester County, New York. He made sales to homes and department stores in cities both large and small. “The company I worked for was one of the first to use computers for ordering and stocking; that was one of the secrets to my success, turning merchandise into dollars quickly.”
But his bachelor life wasn’t all spent on the road. A friend cajoled hard-working Charlie into taking two weeks off to go skiing in Canada. With a smile on his face, he says of those days that “the women were on the ski slopes looking for husbands.” During his second week of lessons, Charlie met a woman named Kathy, also from New York City. The two New Yorkers hit it off, and within a year and a half, Kathy, an editor at Little, Brown and Company, and Charlie, still plying his goods, married and moved to Wayland.
Their introduction to Brandeis came by way of Hillel House, where they attended religious services and where Kathy held a position at the Heller School. Later, looking for adult learning classes, they discovered UMass Boston’s gerontology program and Harvard’s Institute for Learning in Retirement. Drawing from these examples, Brandeis Professor Bernie Reisman, with the support of the OSHER Foundation, concurrently founded BOLLI, and Charlie and Kathy had found a new place to learn.
“At BOLLI, I soaked up everything like a sponge; everyone was so bright, so smart.” Charlie adds, “I was particularly pleased that socializing was, and continues to be, an important component of BOLLI life.”
During that time, Charlie’s mother moved into an apartment at Bent Park in Wayland, an affordable senior housing development. Her move piqued Charlie’s interest in the town’s low-income housing or, more specifically, lack thereof. After making inquiries, he found that there was an empty seat on the board of the town housing authority. Executive Director Brian Boggia asked him to fill the vacancy, and it was then that “salesman Charlie” really hit his stride.
Charlie’s friendly attitude and interest in town affairs gave him access to board meetings where permits were doled out for construction of affordable housing units. He spent hours selling the concept of affordable housing to townspeople, many of whom staunchly opposed it. But NIMBYism (“Not in My Back Yard”) didn’t faze him. According to Brian, “he was indefatigable.”
During Charlie’s eighteen years on the Wayland Housing Authority, the town finally met the Commonwealth’s mandate of ten percent affordable housing. Charlie was subsequently named “Hero of the Year” by the Massachusetts Housing Partnership Institute.
Wayland has a soft spot in the Raskin family’s heart. “The town did so much when our son, Tommy, was stricken with cancer. The school principal wired classes to our home and made it possible for Tommy’s classmates to interact with him.” The town later dedicated a scholarship in his memory. Charlie says, “That sense of community is what enriched our lives. As much as I gave to the town while on the housing authority, it came back to me through the love and understanding that our Tommy received.” Mary Antes, Wayland Housing Authority board chairperson, says that “Charlie is just a wonderful human being. He oozes enthusiasm, charm and good will.” These are sentiments with which his many BOLLI friends would heartily concur.
This article was originally posted on December 18, 2021.