Photos of Ed Schwartzman with celebrities line the south wall of Buffa Louie’s restaurant where he is a partner. Each photo represents part of his two-and-a-half year quest to fulfill his dream to honor his dead son.
In 2007, Ed’s 19-year-old son Ben committed suicide. While it didn’t come as a complete shock to Ed -- Ben was taking anti-depressants and getting professional help for a bipolar disorder -- dealing with the grief remains difficult. “Depending on which way my internal weather vane is pointing, I could say to myself ‘I could have done more to help my son’,” Schwartzman said.
One way he deals with the grief is to try and prevent others from choosing to take their life.
The father’s dream is to find a well-known artist to cover the 11-song album his son recorded in the year before his death. Ed wants the proceeds to go to a charity whose goal is suicide prevention.
Whenever Ed has a chance to meet a celebrity, he finds a way to approach them about his quest. “It all depends on the setting,” Schwartzman said. After judging the celebrity’s receptiveness, he says, “I’d like to tell you a story,” and pitches his dream.
He tells them of “the asset his son left the world” and how, paired with a famous artist’s rendition, it could raise money for a great cause: They could use the music to honor his son’s memory by preventing future suicides.
Schwartzman, a Bayside-Queens, N.Y., native and a natural-born salesman, has been making sales pitches for more than 20 years. Right out of college, he took a job as a wholesale suit salesman in Chicago. Now, he sells guttering, and makes small talk with customers while they order at Buffa Louie’s.
Schwartzman has approached many artists and philanthropists including Howie Dorough, a member of the Backstreet Boys, and Jermaine Jackson, Michael Jackson’s older brother, but hasn’t succeeded in finding an artist.
Even so, the journey has been therapeutic. By continuing to showcase Ben’s music Schwartzman has cultivated his connection with his son.
As the three-year anniversary of Ben’s death approaches, he continues to search for artists to fulfill his dream.
“I always feel like I’m one conversation away,” he said. “I know it’s going to happen. I have absolute total faith it’s going to happen. It’s just a matter of time and this could be it. It took two-and-a-half years, but maybe the time is now.”
