Family and friends look back on the life of Alvin ‘Doc’ Berlin

The landmark institution that opened at Olney’s busy crossroads in the mid-1950s is still a fond memory for those who lived in the community in those days.

‘‘Doc Berlin was a living legend in the community,” Brookeville resident Clyde Unglesbee said. ‘‘He was always there, and would get you whatever you needed.”

Unglesbee often ate at the lunch counter and recalls that it was a friendly gathering place.

‘‘You would have a doctor sitting next to a guy in overalls, but there was a real camaraderie,” he said. ‘‘Doc Berlin was a peacemaker; there was no discrimination and everyone there had a good relationship. What more can I say about a man who truly served his community?”

Berlin was born April 23, 1923, in Baltimore. He graduated from the University of Maryland Pharmacy School and served in the U.S. Navy during World War II, according to his granddaughter, Kelly Bonifant Crockett.

He married Florence Goldberg in 1948 and was called back to military service from 1950 to 1952.

Upon his return to the U.S., Berlin, who had worked in chain drug stores in Rockville and Silver Spring, purchased an old farmhouse in Olney to open his own pharmacy.

Besides offering prescription and non-prescription medications, Berlin made some of his own from formulas he had devised, according to the book ‘‘Olney: Echoes of the Past,” by Healan Barrow and Kristine Stevens.

Berlin delivered medicine throughout the county and would stay open as long as necessary to serve Montgomery General Hospital, often working 20-hour days, the book states.

But the pharmacy was probably as well known for its soda fountain, which offered seating for 11 and was the only restaurant in town in the early days.

Its customers included actors from the Olney Theatre, farmers, truckers, policemen and people from all walks of life.

Regular customers included two local baseball Hall of Famers, Jack Bentley and Sam Rice; Dean Acheson, a Sandy Spring resident who served as secretary of state under President Harry Truman; and Horace Busby, one of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s political advisors, according to ‘‘Olney: Echoes of the Past.”

The store’s two gooseneck lamps out front were Olney’s first outdoor lighting, and the building was also used as a Capital Transit bus depot, the book states.

Berlin was well known for employing local residents; sometimes four or five members of the same family worked for him.

Robert Bonifant, of the Bonifant family of Silver Spring, for whom the road is named, and at least three of his brothers worked at the store. That is where he met Berlin’s daughter Robin, who would later become his wife.

Estella Kimble ran the soda fountain, and her daughter, Sandy Kimble, also worked there.

‘‘We served ice cream, hamburgers, breakfast items, and there was always a special,” Sandy Kimble Fletcher said. ‘‘It was Olney’s version of Arnold’s Drive In from Happy Days.”

Sandy Kimble met her husband Harry Fletcher while working there. Their son, Bob Fletcher, remembers that as a child the store was always open on Christmas Day.

‘‘We’d always go there to get batteries for all of our new toys,” he said.

The store fell victim to the widening of the intersection in 1978. Berlin opened a store in the Olney Shopping Center, but the new store was not the same, area residents said. He sold the business to other pharmacists and it eventually closed.

‘‘Alvin was always a kind, generous, giving individual, Berlin’s sister-in-law, Marilyn Goldberg, a family historian, said. ‘‘His astute business ability and instinct to take chances made him a wealthy, respected and admired man.

‘‘He tragically lost two sons, but always believed in God and giving back,” she said. ‘‘He was a generous and charitable individual. Alvin wanted to be remembered as a nice guy, but that is only part of the phenomenal man he became.”

Many others recall that generosity.

Sandy Kimble Fletcher said that Berlin would always help someone in need.

‘‘It didn’t matter if they had the money, he’d make sure they had what they needed,” she said.

Berlin claimed to be the first Jewish person to come to Olney.

In the 1970s, as the Jewish population in Olney grew, he helped found a new congregation, known originally as the Olney Jewish Congregation. In 1972, it became B’nai Shalom of Olney.

Berlin continued to support the synagogue as a benefactor and helped to fund a major expansion in the 1990s. The family sanctuary is named in his honor.

Crockett recalls a Hebrew School project when she was in elementary school.

‘‘We had to write a report about a famous Jewish figure, and I felt my grandfather was pretty famous in Olney, and my teacher agreed,” she said.

In her report she wrote, ‘‘Customers would come into the store to see what a Jew looked like.”

After retirement, Berlin and his wife moved to Leisure World, where he remained active in real estate and investments. He owned property in Ocean City and spent a great deal of time there with his family.

In addition to his wife Florence, he is survived by his daughter Robin and husband Robert Bonifant and grandchildren Kelly and husband Shane Crockett, Sarah Bonifant and Ross Bonifant.