Herbert (Herbie) M. Kupersmith has helped numerous students from Chelsea and other communities achieve their dreams of attending college over the years through scholarship opportunities.
At a special City Council meeting on Monday night, the council voted to honor Kupersmith’s dedication to Chelsea by approving the naming of a portion of Fourth Street in his honor.
The stretch of Fourth Street between Walnut Street and the Tobin Bridge directly along the side of the Walnut Street Synagogue will now be known as Herbie Kupersmith Way.
“Mr. Herbert M. Kupersmith (known far and wide as ‘Herbie’) is a Chelsea native moving here (at) age 2, where he established a lifelong commitment to the community, in support of education where over many years he donated significantly to the Chelsea Public Schools, Marblehead Public Schools, and Swampscott Public Schools, providing scholarship opportunities for countless students to advance their educations and help find their way in life,” stated City Manager Ned Keefe. “Mr. Kupersmith attended the Walnut Street Synagogue, bar mitzvahed there in 1952, and dedicated his life to fundraising and helping the shul remain in operation. Renaming the stretch of Fourth Street alongside the Walnut Street Synagogue building and organization that he helped to support will be a fitting capstone to his work here in Chelsea.”
Keefe stated that the city will prepare an appropriate street sign for the area in honor of Kupersmith.
District 8 Councilor Calvin Brown said he’s known Kupersmith for many years, and thanked him for his giving spirit and his commitment not only to Chelsea, but to surrounding communities.
“He’s helped many Chelsea kids … get into college and he’s really just an outstanding human being,” said Council President Leo Robinson. “He’d give you the shirt off his back if he had to. I think it is a wonderful honor to have that be named Herbie Kupersmith Way right next to the Walnut Street shul.”
In other business during an abbreviated special meeting, the council presented a resolution in honor of the 50th anniversary of the Iglesia de Dios Pentecostal, C.L.A.