Bernie Platt, former Cherry Hill mayor and funeral home magnate, has died at 90
During his second stint as mayor in the 2000s, Mr. Platt oversaw the expansion of the Cherry Hill Mall and the $500 million redevelopment of the former Garden State Park race track.
Bernie Platt, 90, originally of West Chester, two-time mayor of Cherry Hill and funeral director of Platt Memorial Chapels — one of the largest funeral homes in South Jersey — died Thursday, Sept. 12, of natural causes at his Cherry Hill home.
Though he initially held aspirations of being a veterinarian, Mr. Platt fell into South Jersey politics by way of the funeral home he co-owned on the corner of Haddonfield-Berlin, Evesham, and Somerdale Roads with his wife, Judy, since 1977. Over time, Mr. Platt blended the personal with the professional as he encouraged his four children to take over both aspects of the family business: governing and guiding others amid grief.
Mr. Platt was responsible for boosting the profile of Cherry Hill into a regionally renowned hub for shopping and sustainability. The vestiges of his time in office are still visible along Haddonfield Road, where he oversaw the $1 billion redevelopments of the Cherry Hill Mall and Garden State Park, which was transformed from an abandoned racetrack into a sprawling complex with luxury rentals, restaurants, and corporate headquarters.
“He was an absolute mensch,” Camden County Commissioner Jeffrey Nash said in a statement. “Bernie’s time in elected office — especially his most recent terms — gave us the Cherry Hill we see and know today.”
Current Cherry Hill Mayor David Fleisher agreed: Mr. Platt “left an indelible mark” on the community, he said.
» READ MORE: From 2012: Cherry Hill mayor Bernie Platt exits after a 'wonderful ride'
A Democrat, Mr. Platt served as mayor first from 1979 to 1980 and then again from 2002 to 2012. In between, he juggled stints as a township council member and on the Camden County Board of Chosen Freeholders with running his funeral home alongside several generations of the family. Son Harry is currently the vice president of Platt Memorial Chapels, while daughters Alison Tarnopol and Rena Platt-Goldstein work as funeral and administrative directors, respectively. Grandsons Jacob Platt and Joshua Goldstein started at the business more recently.
“I couldn’t say no to him because of the kind of father he was … so helpful and so giving,” said Rena Platt-Goldstein, who started at Platt Memorial Chapels 30 years ago. “As busy as he was, he never missed a sporting event or a graduation. He’d be tired as anything, but he would be there.”
Harry Platt said his father taught him everything he knows about “how people need to be listened to and understood at a time of incredible loss.”
Dan Keashen, director of public affairs for Camden County, was just 16 years old when he met Mr. Platt. The funeral director was seated at Keashen’s kitchen table, explaining arrangements for Keashen’s mother, who had just died. Keashen would go on to become Mr. Platt’s director of communications — and then chief of staff — during his second stretch as mayor.
“He was very open-minded, and brought the same compassion he had for grieving families to the mayor’s office,” said Keashen, now 46. “He told us to do everything with a sense of urgency because the people who need [support] the most can’t wait.”
Cherry Hill’s population boomed to 70,000 under Mr. Platt’s time in office during the 2000s, landing on national rankings as among the top 10 safest places to live in the United States. Around the same time, Cherry Hill became one of the first cities in the country to pay residents for recycling with gift cards.
“Bernie served as a true advocate and a fearless champion for his residents,” New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy said in a statement. “We will remember him for his tenacity.”
» READ MORE: From 2008: Under Mayor Bernie Platt, Cherry Hill offers proof that recycling pays
For Mr. Platt’s 90th birthday in January, his four children worked together with the Camden County Board of Commissioners to name a stretch of Haddonfield-Berlin Road after their father. At the naming ceremony for “Mayor Bernie Platt Boulevard” — which runs past Platt Memorial Chapels — his son Harry joked it was the only gift they could think of for their father, “the guy who has everything.”
Harry Platt served as mayor of Voorhees from 2001 to 2004. According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, the Platts were the first father-son duo to simultaneously serve as mayors of adjoining towns. Before Mr. Platt was reelected in Cherry Hill, Harry Platt recalled how excited his father was to see his son in local politics.
“He’d sit at the desk next to me in the office and ask a lot of questions about everything happening in Voorhees,” Harry Platt said. By the time the mayor’s seat reopened in Cherry Hill in 2002, Mr. Platt was reenergized, even joking that his daughter Rena should move to Winslow Township and run for office there. (She did not.)
» READ MORE: Camden County names stretch of Haddonfield-Berlin Road after former Cherry Hill mayor Bernie Platt
Mr. Platt enjoyed spending time with his family, watching westerns, and reading biographies of great leaders, like Winston Churchill and President Harry S. Truman, whose campaign Mr. Platt volunteered for when he was a teenager. He was also a good sport, his daughter Rena said, never saying no to an ice cream-eating contest at Carvel with his children or a water fight in the pool with his grandkids.
“He didn’t do anything for acknowledgment,” said Rena Platt-Goldstein. “He did it because that’s what his heart was telling him to do.”
In addition to his wife, Judy, son, Harry, and daughters Rena and Alison, Mr. Platt is survived by a daughter, Sheryl Budkofsky, 12 grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.
A celebration of his life will be held at 12:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 15, at Platt Memorial Chapels, 2001 Haddonfield-Berlin Rd., Cherry Hill, N.J. 08003.
Donations in Mr. Platt’s name may be made to Breakthrough T1D (formerly Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation), Box 5021, Hagerstown, Md. 21741.