Saul J. Mindel, 96, who was an assistant general counsel for the U.S. Post Office before retiring in 1966, died Dec. 6 at his
home in Leisure World in Silver Spring. He also was active in the local Jewish community for most of his adult life.
He was a founding father of the Montgomery Lodge of B'nai B'rith in the early 1940s and of the Montgomery County Jewish
Community Center in 1948. He served terms as president of the Montgomery Lodge and of the National Capital Association of
B'nai B'rith.
Mr. Mindel was born in Johnstown, Pa., where he recalled seeing Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show at a theater. He sat in the
balcony from which Annie Oakley fired her rifle at targets onstage.
As a young boy, he moved to Washington with his family. In junior high school, he and a classmate, Bertha Babinski, first spied
each other, and in high school they began dating. She was in the first graduation class of the new McKinley Tech High School in
1927, and Mr. Mindel graduated two years later. In 1931, they eloped to Annapolis and got married.
After high school, Mr. Mindel was awarded a scholarship to Strayer Business College and got a job at Southern Railway, which
lasted 11 months. He then became a clerk and stenographer in the Postal Inspection Service of the Post Office. While
employed there, he attended the National University School of Law (which later merged with George Washington University Law
School) at night and graduated in 1933.
Part of Mr. Mindel's tenure was serving as stenographer to and member of the personal staff of Postmaster General James A.
Farley for six years, until Farley resigned in 1940. Mr. Mindel then transferred to the Office of the Solicitor of the Post Office.
He specialized in the laws that applied to mailing materials such as lotteries, raffles and sweepstakes and those that were
considered, at the time, to be obscene, including his most well-known case, involving D.H. Lawrence's explicit "Lady
Chatterley's Lover."
In retirement, Mr. Mindel continued his work as a lawyer and was a consultant to two private companies. He and his wife
enjoyed several trips to Europe. One of their fondest memories was being served in Alfredo's Restaurant in Rome by Alfredo
himself, the namesake of fettuccine Alfredo.
He also was very active in the Leisure World chapter of the Lion's Club for many years.
His wife, Bertha Mindel, died in March. They had celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary Dec. 26, 2006.
Survivors include two sons, Larry Mindel of Waunakee, Wis., and Roger Mindel of Silver Spring; and three grandchildren.
-- Yvonne Shinhoster Lamb