Charles H. Weiss, founder of Weiss & Neuman Shoe Co., died Saturday, Aug. 5, 2006, at the 2 McKnight Place Extended Care Center in University City. He was l03, and had been a resident of Lake Forest in Richmond Heights for 50 years.

Mr. Weiss was born in Romania in l903. In 1913, he immigrated to St. Louis with his family. While taking engineering courses at Washington University, he volunteered to run a cousin’s shoe store in Oklahoma, and then decided to enter the shoe business. He returned to St. Louis and started to work for the Wohl Shoe Co. In 1932, he and Ben Neuman started Weiss & Neuman Shoe Co. on the eighth floor at 1209 Washington Avenue. Eventually, he took ownership of the building.

Weiss & Neuman leased space in department stores in the Midwest and opened Baker’s Shoe Stores. Baker’s Shoes continues operations today as a separate business. The company owned a shop on Sixth Street downtown and named it Martin in honor of Turley-Martin Co., which obtained the location.

In 1962, Mr. Weiss bought Neuman’s interest in the firm. In 1975, when he was 75, his sons became the principals in the business. One son, Richard W. Weiss, who served as president of the Jewish Community Center, died in 1995. Sanford W. Weiss, a past president of the St. Louis Jewish Light Board of Trustees, survives. Sanford W. Weiss’ wife, Ellen, is a past president of the Jewish Center for Aged (now Cedars at the JCA) board.

Recalling his father’s long life, Sanford W. Weiss told the St. Louis Jewish Light, “He remembered the Cossacks riding through town when he was a child in Romania. The men on horses were looking for conscripts for the army. Dad left on a horse-drawn wagon to board the Antwerp to sail for the United States at the age of 10.”

Sanford Weiss continued, “Charles Weiss built a successful business, traveled the world with my mother, stayed in the finest hotels, such as the Crillon, in Paris, the Palace in New York City, etc. He took our family to Europe in 1952. He sold newspapers, delivered telegrams, etc. before becoming successful in business. He truly lived the American dream, which he made come true on his own.”

Charles Weiss was married to Ida Weiss for 57 years. She died in 1987.

Mr. Weiss served on numerous organizational boards, including those of Jewish Hospital (now Barnes-Jewish), the Visting Nurse Association, the Jewish Center for Aged (now Cedars at the JCA), the Jewish Federation of St. Louis and United Hebrew Congregation. He was also a member of Congregation Shaare Emeth and Temple Israel. He was one of the founders and a former treasurer of the Children’s Research Foundation. He was also a member of B’nai B’rith, the Columbian Club and Westwood Country Club.

Mr. Weiss also served in leadership roles in the Jewish Federation Campaign for many years, including serving as co-chairman of the Shoe Group, the Shoe Group executive committee and on the Campaign Cabinet.

In addition to his son Sanford W. Weiss, he is survived by five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Aug. 8 at Temple Israel, 1 Rabbi Alvan D. Rubin Drive. Burial was private.