Everyone who lived or spent any time on the East Side in the second half of the 20th century likely met Hy Eglash. If not, I bet they at least shopped at his Oriental Drugs.
On Monday, Eglash's daughter Anne posted on Facebook that her dad had passed away.
"I am sad to share that my dad, Hy Eglash, passed away this a.m. from a stroke," she wrote. "He was an amazing, generous dad, loving husband, mean poker player, dedicated friend to many, and a role model business owner/pharmacist. He will be greatly missed, and his memories will be cherished."
He was 92.
Hy – who attended Washington High School – was a pharmacist at the Oriental Pharmacy, next to the theater of the same name on Farwell and North, and also its owner, from 1966 until the business closed in 1995.
Although the East Side institution dated back to 1928, for those of us of a certain age, Hy WAS Oriental Drugs. He was its face, its personality, its soul. He was East Side royalty.
Although I used to see him in the store, of course, I only really spent time with him in 2017 when we took part in an East Side walking tour together for the Milwaukee Jewish Museum.
He was full of stories, full of smiles, humble and sweet and funny ... and I wished I'd known him better, longer.
"He was a good man, father, husband, businessman, and a good friend," wrote musician Jerry Grillo on Facebook.
"As a former employee of the Oriental Pharmacy I can say he was a great boss too," wrote Chris Marks. "Always kind, generous and thoughtful. He truly cared about the community his pharmacy served."
"Mr. Eglash was a wonderful, generous man and always so kind to me and my family," said Christina Loukopoulos. "My mother, Ropie Loukopoulos was the cook there for 13 years and my father, brother, cousin and two aunts worked there, too.
"I used to ride my little bike up and down in the store after closing time, when we would pick up my mom. He always treated us like family and even invited us to his home several times. When I got injured, he drove me and my dad to St Mary’s. My family lives in Greece now, but they always ask about him."
Surely, these kinds of testimonies will continue to flow and Eglash's memory will endure.
If you want to know more, WUWM-FM did a nice Oriental story a while back and talked to Hy, picturing him in the building. You can see that here.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
