Stan Jaffe may have been born in Brooklyn, but he was a Newporter at heart.
Stanley Burton Jaffe, 94, died on November 6, 2026, in Pearland, Texas, and returns home to Rhode Island to rest.
The son of Ralph and Betty Jaffe, Stan grew up in Newport and loved it all his life. He was a proud 1950 graduate of Rogers High School and stayed connected as a member of Touro Synagogue and the Newport Historical Society. After graduating from Brown University and spending a year at New York University School of Law, he began his career in Rhode Island with the Gob Shops and later managed Atlantic Mills (later Atlantic Thrift Center), a chain of discount department stores.
At the Rouse Company, he oversaw enclosed shopping malls and became the first manager of the Mall in Columbia, in the then-new town of Columbia, Maryland. His career also took him to some of America’s landmark shopping centers, from Roosevelt Field on Long Island to Woodfield in Illinois, then considered the largest in the country. He spent nearly 20 years with the Lerner Corporation, where he ran Tysons Corner Center, Wheaton Plaza, White Flint Mall and Landover Mall, and later worked in property management with Greenhoot.
Stan met Laura on a blind date. By the third date he had decided she would be his wife, and within six months she was. This year they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. They made their home for many years in Montgomery Village, Maryland, before moving to Wellington, Florida, in 2005 and to Pearland, Texas, in 2023.
Quiet, loyal and honest, Stan was a man of integrity whose dry humor tended to arrive when you least expected it. He was a devoted student of World War II history and never tired of a good documentary or a classic movie.
That love of history carried into his volunteer work at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and with the Judaica Sound Archives. He was also a member of the museum, B’nai B’rith and the ACLU. His greatest pride, though, was his children.
A lifelong student of history, Stan helped make some in his last days. He cast his final vote in the historic 2026 election and lived to see Texas turn blue for the first time in 30 years, a fitting close to his story, written the way he lived: quietly, and with conviction.
He is survived by his beloved wife of 50 years, Laura Jaffe; his children, Marc (Bonnie) and Pamela (Phil), born of his marriage to Judith (Salk) Fuchs, and Francine (Brian) and Andrea (Norman); his grandchildren, Brian (Grecia), Dave, Jon (Ronny), Molly (Alex), Brandon, Zachary, Cameron, Casey, Nilyne, Camren, Isaac and Elijah; and his great-grandchildren, Aden, Owen, Eddie, Sam, Hudson and Parker.
He was predeceased by his parents, Ralph and Betty Jaffe, and his sister, Rita Kotlen.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, at the Hoffman Jewish Memorial Chapel, 11 Fowler Ave, Newport, RI at 11:00 AM. Graveside service will follow at Beth Olam Cemetery, 181 Wyatt Rd, Middletown, RI. Shiva will be private.
In lieu of flowers, contributions in Stan’s memory may be made to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (ushmm.org) or Houston Hospice (houstonhospice.org).
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