Spend just a few moments with Quayside resident Barney Mayrsohn – a 98-year-old World War II veteran who settled in his Biscayne Corridor home three years ago but who was a snowbird for more than three decades – and you’ll know you’re in the presence of someone very special.
Bernard “Barney” Mayrsohn entered the world in 1923 in Brooklyn, N.Y., joining what would eventually become a brood of five: younger brother Jack, older brother Casper, and sisters Helen and Sarah.
(Courtesy of Barney Mayrsohn)
Ethel and Barney Mayrsohn on vacation in Egypt.
Born with a broken shoulder, Mayrsohn grew into a strong and honorable young man who eventually served in the United States military during World War II.
His life growing up in Brooklyn was filled with time on the tennis courts.
“I’ve been a lifelong tennis player. My dad took me to the squash court when I was 5 years old,” said Mayrsohn.
He was a competitive player in high school, and although “I wasn’t good enough to play on the college team at Cornell (University), I was the tennis champ at Brae Burn Country Club in New York, I was the first member there. They called me M1 for Mayrsohn and because I was the first,” he said.
(Josie Gulliksen for Biscayne Times)
A frame in Barney Mayrsohn’s Quayside home displays his many medals.
Prior to enlisting in the armed services, he’d enrolled at Cornell University’s School of Agriculture in Ithaca, N.Y., in the fall of 1941, but soon after the country entered the war on Dec. 7, 1941, Mayrsohn marched to the recruiting station on the town’s State Street to sign up, but was rejected due to that long-ago broken shoulder.
That, however, did not shake his determination to be part of the war effort, and months later at another recruiting office, Mayrsohn made it through the various tests without a problem and was accepted for service.
He was called to duty months later and went for training in the U. S. Army Air Corps, later the Army Air Force and, finally, the U. S. Air Force on Miami Beach. Mayrsohn would go on to fight as part of the 106th Infantry Division – known as “The Golden Lions” – at the French-Belgian border in October of 1944, right at the front line of the “Battle of the Bulge.”
Wounded twice at the battle, Mayrsohn received two Purple Hearts, but it was for his heroism that he received a Bronze Star for bravery.
After the war he graduated from Cornell’s Agriculture School, married his wife, Ethel, and built a house across the street from the country club, where they lived for nearly 50 years.
“The grounds and garden were exactly the way Ethel and I wanted, we loved gardening,” said Mayrsohn.
The couple had three children: daughters Janet and Barbara and son Mark, and two granddaughters, Sophia and Aubreyanne.
(Courtesy of Barney Mayrsohn)
A Mayrsohn family portrait taken in 2005 at Ethel and Barney Mayrsohn’s New York home shows daughters Barbara and Janet, Barney and Ethel, and son Mark and his wife, Kathy (L-R). Seated in front are granddaughters Sophia (L) and Aubreyanne.
While living in New York, they became snowbirds and began coming to Miami and their Quayside condominium in the late 1980s. The Mayrsohns made a permanent move to Miami in 2019.
“I moved here for the climate,” he said. “Ethel was always active in the Quayside community, serving as editor of the condo’s newsletter, ‘The Quay Insider.’”
Mayrsohn chose Quayside all those years ago because he loved having access to the tennis courts, which he played on up until just a few years ago. He also wanted to be closer to his son, Mark, who lives on Key Biscayne and has taken over the family business, Mayrsohn International Trading Co., a produce import/export business that’s been in the family for four generations.
Mayrsohn and his son used to love going to Miami Dolphins games and were season ticket holders. The patriarch was once honored for his military service during halftime at a game.
Besides gardening and tennis, Mayrsohn has always loved to swim and until recently made regular use of the Quayside pool.
“I’ve enjoyed every phase of my life,” he said. “My father was a world traveler, and he took me along on many of his trips. I recall being on a camel in Egypt when I was 6 years old during a vacation. I later visited the pyramids in Egypt with Ethel, and we rode a camel, too.”
Ever the family man, he cherishes the wonderful life he’s led.
“I’ve also been a good father, an active father,” said Mayrsohn. “My life has been so exciting I can’t put it into words.”
And if you didn’t know before that there’s a hero living among us in the Biscayne Corridor, you do now.