Search for Great Neck man

By Michael Orbach

“Everybody is tired after a month of Yom Tov and I guess he was complaining about how his back was hurting from taking down the Sukkah,” she recalled. “He was having a coffee and watching his usual TV program. I said to him, ‘You’ll have a good night’s sleep tonight because you’re going to the office.’”

Mayer, a father of four who works as a metal trader, didn’t show up for work and when the office secretary called him at 9:30, he explained that he was on the Long Island Expressway and would be in shortly. When the office called again at 11:30, Mayer said he was still on the LIE.

“That was the last anyone spoke to him,” said Stuart Mayer, Steven’s son. “My father is a yecke. He’s like a robot; you knew what he was going to eat and when he’s going to shul. As soon as he wasn’t at work, we knew he had to be missing.”

The last telephone signals picked up from Mayer’s cellphone came from somewhere in Riverhead on the Eastern edge of Long Island. His last calls were to the phone numbers belonging to his deceased parents.

In 1999, Mayer suffered a seizure from a benign brain tumor. The tumor was removed successfully, but he was prescribed on seizure medication. According to a neurologist contacted by the family, he may have undergone something known as a half-seizure, in which mental processes are affected but the person doesn’t realize it. There were alarming signs in the house.

“He left the door wide open,” said Stuart. “He was making himself a sandwich and he left the chicken on the counter.”

Several searches have been held in Riverhead and in Great Neck for Mayer. An estimated 2,000 people helped search in Riverhead on Oct. 10.

“We’ve had unbelievable help from the Jewish community,” Stuart said.

Mayer is described as a “fixture” in the Great Neck Jewish community, by Rabbi Dale Polakoff of the Great Neck Synagogue, where Mayer served as president.

“We are davening and trying to be mechazek each other,” said Rabbi Polakoff. “It’s a combination of us doing hishtadlus, whatever we can physically do for him, and turning the rest over to Hakadosh Boruch Hu and asking for His help.”

Several tips have placed Mayer at different locations, but Stuart says none were correct; the last concrete evidence they have of his father is still in Riverhead.

“We’re really asking to locate the car,” Stuart explained. “If we find the car we’ll find my father. Be vigilant where you’re driving.”

Mayer was driving a Silver 2010 Nissan Centra with the license plate “EWN4035.”

The family is optimistic about finding Mayer.

“There’ll be a lot of tears and hugs,” said Stuart.

Susan has two things to tell her husband of 37 years.

“I’m going to kill you,” she said. “And where have you been?”