Adele Udell, a longtime sales manager with the Queens Courier, died last month after a short battle with illness. She was 80 years old.
A stalwart of the Schneps Media office in Bayside, Udell died peacefully with her family by her side on Wednesday, Aug. 26. She was laid to rest following a funeral service at New Montefiore Cemetery on Friday, Sept. 4.
Udell is survived by her son Bradley, daughter-in-law Sandra, granddaughter Chloe and brother Howard Wasserman. She is predeceased by her husband Jay, who died around three years ago.
Born in the Bronx in September 1945, Udell was a stay-at-home mom for her son Bradley before she found her true calling as a salesperson with Schneps, a position she held for almost 30 years.
“She was always a talker, which is why she did so well at Schneps,” Bradley Udell said. “She never shut up. She was always going… that’s why you either loved her or you hated her, but you never really forgot her.”
Bradley described Udell as a “wonderful mother” who strove to put her family first, adding that she was the “life of the party.”
“She always either had the best jokes or thought that she had the best jokes,” he said. “She knew everybody. Everybody knew her. She knew every single person in her building in Bay Terrace.”
When Bradley’s daughter Chloe was born, Udell became a doting grandmother.
“We had to cut off her credit cards to keep her from buying [Chloe] stuff every time we would go to see her. It was insane.”
Udell’s love of family was apparent among her colleagues at the Queens Courier’s Bayside office.
Sheila Levy, who worked alongside Udell for over 20 years, said Udell “adored her son” and her family.
“She did everything in the world for him,” Levy said. “She was the best mother because she gave him everything she possibly could.”
Levy added that Udell was ecstatic when her granddaughter Chloe was born, describing her as the “best grandmother in the world.”
“She was buying presents every day, bringing her clothes, always bragging about her, and we were all so happy for her because she got what she wanted out of life,” Levy said.
Levy remembered Udell as a fun coworker who was made for her job as a salesperson.
“She was very good. She would say to clients, ‘Oh, I’m in a contest, and I need to get this sale to reach my quota.’ It never worked for me, but it always worked for her.”
Victoria Schneps, who founded the Queens Courier more than 40 years ago, described Udell as the heart of the Bayside office and as someone who went “beyond the call of duty” to assist clients.
“She cared about all of us and was passionate about her clients, always going beyond the call of duty to help them build their business,” Schneps said in a statement.
Joshua Schneps, CEO of Schneps Media, described Udell as a friend and a mentor, adding that she would be greatly missed.
“Adele was a friend and mentor to me. She was like family and someone I admired,” he said in a statement. “She had a great talent in sales because she knew how to make people feel special and always had a knack for making people laugh. She will be greatly missed.”