b'SPECIAL FEATURELondon lived to be 83, and Mark recalls sitting on his lap as a young boy and watching his grandfather play chess and checkers with his friends. He would always have a bowl of fruit and he would peel the skin off of it. He had a knife and he would cut pieces of the fruit and give it to me and all of his friendspear and ap-ple, peach, whatever. I still do the same thing with my kids. (Perhaps the love of sharing fruit is genetic; Mark told this story seated behind a heaping bowl of berries and melon that the staff at London Jewelers had ordered for their guests.)THE SECOND GENERATIONLondon and his wife, Ida London, had three children, including daughter Fran, who grew up working alongside her father in the store. Fran was born in Bialystock, Poland, in 1920 and immi-grated to the U.S. in 1929 alongside her mother and siblings.As a young woman during World War II, she drove an am-bulance at Long Islands Mitchel Field, then an Air Defense Command base. After the war, she married a man shed met on a blind date in 1939, Mayer Udell. They had two children, Ira, who was interested in science and ultimately became an ophthalmologist, and Mark, who was interested in business and loved watching his parents work at the store.Together, Mayer and Fran took over London Jewelers,London originally opened his store at 23 School St. in Glen Cove. He later moved across the street to running the business from 1945 until 1990 when they sold it24 School St.to Mark and Candy. business over to Mark and Candy, and While the two couples workedMark says they still run into people alongside each other for decades, nei- in Glen Cove who recall the kindness ther Mark nor Candy can recall a singleFran extended to them. piece of advice Mayer and Fran gaveCustomers would come into Lon-that they regret taking. don Jewelers to buy a diamond ring and Candy says Mayer and Fran gaveFran would encourage them to splurge Mark and her the space they needed toa little bit and then would let them pay make changes to the business, creatingit off over timeno interest charged, the type of open atmosphere thatsno questions asked, no funny business. conducive to businesses surviving fromThe store had a little book where one generation to the next.Fran would keep track of all the We came in with new ideas. SomeIOUs. Every week, when the custom-of them they liked, and some of themer who owed money came in to give they didnt, and I think they were gra- another $10, it would be deducted cious enough to accept that and listen,from the amount owed and dated.she says. People to this day tell me what Mark recalls his parents emphasiz- your mom did for us was something ing the importance of charitysome- beyond belief because we never thing the jeweler has continued towould have been able to buy what we this day through Candys Rescue Pawwanted to buy, Mark says.Foundation and by supporting clientsWhile the two couples generally got charitiesand acting with integrity.along, that doesnt mean there werent Everything weve built up here, Ida few times that Mark and Candys never do anything foolish to jeopar- ideas raised eyebrows, including one dize that, he says. involving the watch brand that changed It has been more than 30 yearsFrom left, Fran Udell (ne London) with sons Ira and Mark and husbandthe course of the stores future. since Mayer and Fran turned theMayer Udell in the 1950sContinued on page 4744 RETAILER HALL OF FAME 2025'