By Tommy Hallissey
Cantor, 81, lives and works in the same building on Highland Road in Jamaica Estates. For 58 straight years, Cantor has worked for the Donner family, who now owns ADI Management.
She serves as the office manager, renting apartments in three buildings in Jamaica Estates. Cantor said she does not plan to retire because her brother died two months after he stopped working.
“She'll never retire because she wouldn't know what to do with herself,” said her daughter, Mandy Cantor. “She doesn't know anything else.”
Cantor was born in the Bronx on Sept. 29, 1922. She attended James Monroe High School in the Bronx and graduated during the buildup to World War II, an era she described as “very bad times.”
For her first job, Cantor went to work for the Army Map Service. She served as the office manager for a company that employed draftsman who were responsible for the aerial maps of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, where the United States dropped two atoms bombs in 1945 to force the Japanese to surrender. Cantor said she did not know at the time that the Army Map Services maps would be used for such destruction.
After the war was over in 1946, the Army Map Service wanted to transfer Cantor to one of its main offices in Washington, D.C. or Detroit. But Cantor turned down the offer because she wanted to remain close to her mother.
After a month off, Cantor went to the New York state unemployment office in Manhattan, which sent her to 1133 Broadway in Manhattan to meet a Mr. Donner, who owned the International Yarn Co., a textile business. Donner hired Cantor on the spot.
Soon after Cantor's arrival, Donner made a foray into the real estate business, purchasing the Carlton House in Flushing. Slowly, Donner left the textile business behind and concentrated solely on real estate.
Cantor went along for the ride and has worked for Donner ever since. He purchased 172-90 Highland Rd. in Jamaica Estates, which houses ADI Management.
In 1959 Cantor moved from the Bronx with her 6-month-old daughter to an apartment at 172-90 Highland Rd. After all this time, Cantor still lives in the same apartment and works in a converted office in the same building. The easy commute is one reason she has never retired.
All told, Cantor has worked for the same firm for 58 straight years. “I never thought I'd be here that long,” Cantor said. “It turned out that way.”
ADI management is in its third generation of management. Cantor's current boss was 8 months old when she started working at the firm.
At 81, retirement is far from Cantor's mind. “The worst thing is to retire,” Cantor said.
She said her dim view of retirement can be attributed to the fact that her brother died two months after he retired. For Cantor, who has spent most of her life in the ADI Management office, her co-workers feel like family.
And her co-workers said they cannot imagine the office without Cantor.
“She is the company,” said Gloria Viess, a co-worker of 30 years. “She's always been there.”
Reach reporter Tommy Hallissey by e-mail at news@timesledger.com, or call 718-229-0300, Ext. 155.
