View this article online: https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/east/2003/11/14/34143.htm
Sid Friedman, 68, whose lovable eccentricities and passion for the art of sales, made him one of America’s most admired professional sales people, died Nov. 13 at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.
A transplanted New Yorker who came to Philadelphia in 1966 to find success, Friedman went on to become one of the insurance industries top producing sales professionals, who was the only person to have served as president of the International Top of the Table, the Twenty Five Million Dollar International Forum, and the Association of Advance Life Underwriting.
As a speaker, Friedman inspired audiences throughout the world with his unique mix of unbridled enthusiasm, street-smart sales advice, and trade mark humor. As an author, he wrote and published five books, including the acclaimed How to Make Money Tomorrow Morning, first published by Dearborn Publishing.
As a business owner, Friedman built one of the industry’s most successful insurance and financial advisory practices, Corporate Financial Services. A frequent contributor to major trade magazines, his articles appeared in Broker World, Insurance Advocate, Nation’s Restaurant News and Maekyung Economy, one of South Korea’s leading business publications. Sid was also a frequent guest on local and national TV and was seen most recently on CNN. Forbes magazine once called Sid Friedman “one of corporate America’s most powerful people.”
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y. during the Great Depression in 1935, Friedman was the only son of a Jewish family on relief. His father, Ben, was a leather cutter and his mother, Ceil, worked as a telemarketer selling magazine subscriptions under an assumed name to disguise her Jewish heritage. At an early age, Friedman determined to achieve the Great American Dream of financial independence, a goal he more than accomplished during his career. However, his pursuit of wealth never overwhelmed his sense of humanity and sincere interest in motivating and helping others to achieve success.
Throughout his life, Friedman had battled cancer and coronary heart disease. According to his doctors, a bout with lymphoma during the 1990s should have ended his life, if not for his tremendous passion for his family, his life and his work.
Friedman is survived by his wife, Sue, and his two daughters, Lori, of Philadelphia and Wendi, of New York City. Friedman was a long-time resident of Haddonfield, N.J., and spent his summers at his home in Margate, N.J.
Friedman was a trustee of The American College in Bryn Mawr, PA. He held the professional credentials of a Chartered life Underwriter (CLU); Chartered Financial Consultant (ChFC); Registered Health Underwriter (RHU); and Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow (LUTCF). He graduated from New York University in 1957, with a Bachelor’s degree in Financial Services. A proponent of life-long learning, Friedman received a Master of Science in Financial Services from the American College in June 1995. He was also the founder of the Philadelphia branch of the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Funeral Services will be held:
Sunday, Nov. 16, 2003 at 12 noon.
Goldstein’ Funeral Home
6410 North Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 19126
(215) 927-5800
Shiva will be held Sunday evening, Monday and Tuesday at the Friedman Home
20 Lane of Acres
Haddonfield, N.J. 08033
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions can be made to
The Friedman Charitable Foundation which will donate monies to both the research of Cancer and the Make a Wish foundation.
20 Lane of Acres
Haddonfield, N.J. 08033