Staten Island Day Camp closes after 40 years due to coronavirus pandemic
Updated Feb 05, 2021;
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STATEN ISLSND, N.Y. By his hospital bedside, a friend played Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Heaven” just before Michael Halpern died on July 30, 2019, said his wife, Valerie Halpern.
He died at age 71 at peace with the fact that Staten Island Day Camp, which he created in 1979, hit its 40-year mark, and he was there to celebrate it, she said.
“Mike was so wonderful with the kids. He was a ‘big kid’ himself,” recalled his wife. “He touched so many lives.”
But he never could have foreseen the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and how it would impact his day camp, which his wife had intended to continue as part of his legacy.