Trump appearance at NYC kosher deli canceled at last minute after owner dies
Former President Donald Trump’s scheduled campaign trail appearance at a popular Brooklyn kosher deli was canceled Thursday after the owner died of a heart attack. He was 76.
Trump had been expected to stop by Gottlieb’s — a mom-and-pop restaurant known as a staple of Hasidic Williamsburg — before heading to Washington, DC, to speak at a “Combatting Antisemitism” event.
But the deli’s beloved owner Shalom Yoseph Gottelib — a dedicated dad and hardworking businessman, who often gave food to the needy — was hospitalized with pneumonia earlier this week and died after suffering cardiac problems Thursday, according to friends and religious leaders.
“Everybody’s in shock. He was a good person, and he was an icon because of the iconic restaurant he ran for a very long time,” said Rabbi Abe Friedman, a friend of Gottlieb. “Going from welcoming Trump to a funeral is quite shocking.”
The soft-spoken deli owner — whose Hungarian-born father, Shlomo Zelka, founded the deli in 1962 after surviving the Holocaust — was known for working “every day” and generously helping poor folks, said Rabbi Moshe Indig, a Jewish community leader.
“Let’s say someone came and told him their mother was sick, had to go to the hospital. He’d say, ‘How many portions do you need? Take it,’” Indig said. “Every Friday before closing he’d take all the leftovers and pack them up and send them to families.”
“He was a real old-time gentleman,” Indig added. “This is a great loss for the community.”
The restaurateur served up everything from matzo balls to classic knishes while adhering to strict Jewish dietary laws such as keeping meat and dairy products separate.
The eatery is one of the few “Glatt kosher” delis — which require the lungs of slaughtered animals to be free of defects — left in the U.S., according to atlasobscura.com.
When the deli first opened, orthodox Jews would flock there from far and wide, Indig said.
“People used to come from all over, driving for hours to get here to get the gefilte fish, the matzo balls, the kishka, the knish — all the original, traditional foods,” he said.
In the days leading up to his death, Gottlieb was well enough to attend a granddaughter’s wedding last week before his health took a turn for the worse.
“He was a very good person, very charitable, always with a smile, always with a good word,” said Borough Park Jewish community leader Rabbi Bernard Frelich.
He practiced Judaism devoutly, was generally apolitical and “surprised” when Trump’s team picked his shop to visit, Indig said.
“He was never involved in any politics, but somebody – I don’t know why, I don’t know who – picked this location for [Trump’s] visit,” he said. “It was good PR, but they had nothing to do with politics.”
Gottelib’s son Menashe has run the restaurant, located on Roebling Street and Division Avenue, for the past few years.
Gottelib’s funeral will be held at 172 Ross St. in Brooklyn at 2 p.m.
On Wednesday, Trump, 78, stopped by the Bitcoin bar PubKey in Manhattan before holding a campaign rally at Nassau Coliseum on Long Island.
The Republican nominee has opted to rally in New York — despite having little chance of winning in the deep blue state — in part because support on Long Island will be crucial in determining who controls the House next year.
