Deceased Information

• DECEASED

  Seymour Commanday

  Shalom ben Avigdor

• DATE OF DEATH

  Saturday, March 11, 2023 (After Sunset)

• DATE OF FUNERAL

  Wednesday, March 15, 2023

• TIME OF FUNERAL

  12:00 PM

• PLACE OF FUNERAL

  Graveside

• PLACE OF BURIAL

  Greenlawn Cemetery, Spartanburg, South Carolina

• DONATIONS

  • ❖ St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

    501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105

  • ❖ Jewish War Veterans

    1811 R Street NW Washington, DC 20009

• OBITUARY

  Seymour (Sy) Commanday, age 91 of Atlanta, born in Brooklyn NY, the second child of Ukrainian immigrants, passed away on Saturday evening, March 11, 2023 at home.  Though always loyal to his hometown and his alma mater, Brooklyn College, Sy and his first wife, Jacky, and their growing family moved from place to place as he gained more expertise in his career as a color chemist.  When Sy retired, he and his second wife, Betty, found community, and smiles in Beaufort SC and Sandy Springs GA.

  Using his Navy GI Bill, Sy drove his young family across the country from Brooklyn to Tucson, AZ in the early 1960s.  There he studied chemistry at Arizona State University. Throughout his career as a highly specialized and sought-after textiles color chemist, Sy could see a color and re-create it in any medium.  He was able to blend a perfect epoxy color match to repair son Jonathan’s boat one afternoon (grandsons Alex, Zac and Max were relieved).  Sy and Jacky lived in Brooklyn (where daughter Melissa was born), Tucson (son Clifford), New Jersey (Jonathan), North Carolina (daughter Mara), South Carolina, and Louisiana.  Sy’s final position was in Georgia, working for Hercules Inc. which later became Techmer and currently FiberVisions.

  Though Sy loved many things, aviation was his first love.  Before he learned to drive a car, Sy soloed in a seaplane over Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, earning his pilot’s license and making hundreds of left-handed entries into log books over the many years that followed.  Jacky let Sy “babysit” all of his kids on weekends by taking them flying in Piper Cubs (Paper Cups), Cessna 172s, and Bonanzas (Bananas), teaching them to make S-turns, navigate to and from the VORs, and see what the neighborhood looked like from from thousands of feet above. He enjoyed building and flying radio-controlled model airplanes with Jonathan who crashed some of them and Sy crashed the rest.

  Sy also thrived on the inquisitive nature, the give and take, of Judaism.  Presented with a difficult legalistic Torah portion for his Bar Mitzvah, he irreverently chose to wear a green tie to celebrate the simultaneous St. Patrick’s Day holiday.  He had many philosophical conversations with students, seekers, and people trying to find community.  He taught many younger students and adults about the Jewish faith.  With a goal of inclusion, Sy was willing to perform and participate in interfaith life cycle rituals when others were not. He was also willing to pray with anyone of any faith in their time of need as a volunteer hospital chaplain.

  Sy and Betty were delighted to visit many countries by land and sea as they experienced the world together. He was very involved in his community as a Jewish lay leader in his congregation and served as president and a member of the Rockdale County Exchange Club.

  Sy is predeceased by his first wife Jacky (Ruditz) Commanday (of breast cancer, in 1983)  and his son Clifford Commanday (from leukemia in 1975).  He is survived by his wife of 36 years Betty Commanday, his children Melissa Johnson (Robert), Jonathan Commanday (Laura) and Mara Wildes (Scott), and his grandchildren Valerie Tarr, Alex Commanday (Manasi Tannu), Zachary Commanday (Hannah Behar),  Max Commanday, Skylar Wildes, and Anslie Wildes. He also had 2 step-daughters Abby Buck (William) and Laura Muller (Will Snyder) and 4 step-grandchildren. 

  Graveside services will be held on Wednesday March 15, 2023 at noon at Greenlawn Memorial Gardens in Spartanburg SC. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Sandy Springs, GA. Arrangements made by Dressler’s Funeral Care in Atlanta, GA.

  Memorial contributions may be made to St Jude Chidren’s Research Hospital,  or Jewish War Veterans.