Ramon Brier Garfinkel, 85, a real estate developer

Ramon Brier Garfinkel, 85, of Rittenhouse Square, a real estate developer and community activist, died of heart failure Saturday, Nov. 13, at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

As president of Eldon Construction Co., Mr. Garfinkel built more than 1,000 housing units in Northeast Philadelphia and in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey suburbs. His projects included the residential communities of Mullica Hill Farms and Whitemarsh Farms in New Jersey, and condo complexes in Cinnaminson and in the Art Museum area in Philadelphia. In 1983, Mr. Garfinkel was a partner in the renovation of the Liberty Square Building in Center City, constructed in 1923. He retired in the early 1990s.

Mr. Garfinkel was past chairman of the Homebuilders Association of Philadelphia. He served on the building committee and was volunteer construction manager for the Klein Branch of the Jewish Community Center in Northeast Philadelphia and was a volunteer consultant for Project HOME. He had served on the board of Federation Housing Inc. in Philadelphia and on the board of the Abington Planning Commission. He was past chairman of the Federation Allied Jewish Appeal's Building Trades Division.

His interests were wide-ranging, his daughter Susan said. He was a Civil War scholar, recited poetry, and after retirement audited many courses at the University of Pennsylvania.

Mr. Garfinkel grew up in Germantown and graduated from Central High School. During World War II, he served in the Navy as a surgical technician aboard a hospital ship in the Pacific.

After his discharge, he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He briefly worked for his father, a paint factory owner, before becoming a real estate developer.

In 1950, he married Elaine Honickman, whom he had met on a blind date. He and his wife raised three children in Cheltenham and Meadowbrook. They entertained graciously and traveled widely, their daughter said, and enjoyed summer vacations with their extended family in Longport, N.J.

Mr. Garfinkel's wife died in 2008. In addition to his daughter, he is survived by a daughter, Amy Mashberg; a son, Donald; a brother; and four grandchildren.

A funeral will be at 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 26, at Joseph Levine & Sons, 4737 Street Rd., Trevose. Burial will be in Roosevelt Memorial Park, Trevose.

Donations may be made to Parkinson's Disease Council, 111 Presidential Blvd., Suite 250, Bala Cynwyd, Pa. 19004.