Ben was born and raised in Shanghai, China on November 9, 1920 to an American father and Russian-born mother. He traveled by sea to San Francisco in 1938 eventually settling in Los Angeles. He pursued his first love – Opera – as well as a career in engineering and manufacturing. He met the love of his life – Shirley – in Los Angeles, where she had moved with her family from Mexico City, via New York and they were married in 1951 and became parents to Laura and Ron.
Ben eventually set up Faircraft, Inc. – a design and implementation factory serving the booming aerospace industry, which employed over 200 machinists. Later in life he moved to the healthcare field as owner-operator of convalescent hospitals.
Never stopping his creative endeavors, in retirement Ben was a builder, tinker, grandfather and great-grandfather. Music never left his life and is the thread that connects him to each and every member of his family.
This is the only known recording of Ben, made sometime in the late 40’s at the peak of his vocal powers as an operatic lyric tenor, Di Quella Pira, Verdi’s Il Trovatore.
