David and Kate Paransky
The Jewish Encyclopedia
of Western Pennsylvania
A project of the Rauh Jewish Archives at the Heinz History Center
David Paransky (c.1892-1962) immigrated to Uniontown, Pa., from Russia about 1910. He later moved to Pittsburgh, where he started the Star Bedding Company with Panos Rappaport in 1919. Star Bedding occupied a building at 116 Crawford Street, in the Hill District, until about 1926, when it moved to 1910 Forbes Avenue in Uptown. Paransky accepted an offer from the Serta Mattress Company in the early 1930s to become a cooperative franchise. The Serta Mattress franchise and associated Star Furniture Warehouse moved to 1508 Fifth Avenue about 1934 and 1208-1212 Forbes Avenue about 1939. In the 1960s, the company opened a factory on Metropolitan Street, in the Chateau section of the North Side.
David Paransky married Rose Berez (c.1893-1936) in 1914. They had two sons, Louis (c.1915-1979) and Saul (c.1919-), and one daughter, Frances (c.1929-1988). After Rose Berez Paransky died in 1936, David Paransky married Kate Minkin (1905-1989), who had recently become widowed when her husband, a Dormont jeweler named Morris Minkin (c.1896-1936), and their daughter, Harriet, died in an automobile accident. Kate Paransky had two children from her first marriage, Harriet (c.1921-1936) and Jerome (c.1928-).
After serving in World War II, Louis and Saul Paransky joined the family business. Louis was president of the Serta franchise and vice president of the Star Furniture Warehouse. Saul was vice president of the Serta franchise and vice president of the Star Furniture Warehouse.
Louis Paransky married Leah Brodie Paransky, who published five volumes of short-form poetry. They had three children, Jason, Daniel and Judith. Car and Driver magazine named Daniel Paransky its Mechanic of the Year in the 1970s or 1980s. Saul Paransky married Ina Cohen Paransky, who died unexpectedly in 1967. They had three children, Ronald, Harold and Beth. For many years, the family lived on Lyndhurst Green in Point Breeze. The property was originally part of the Thaw Estate rose garden before Saul and Ina Paransky purchased it from the city of Pittsburgh. They later sold it to Judge Lawrence and Natalie Kaplan. Saul Paransky married Ruth Levy in 1973. Frances Paransky married Morris Berkowitz. Jason and Harold Paransky, the third generation, ran the family business until 1995.
