The Life Story of Steven Dudowitz
By Elena Castriota
Steven Dudowitz of Mahopac, a dedicated family man and mentor to many, tragically passed away Monday, June 13th after fighting the complications of heart failure for four weeks. He was 55.
Dudowitz was born in Brooklyn on August 24, 1960 and attended Lincoln High School where he was a linebacker on the famed football team. He continued playing football at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania where he majored in business administration.
He began his brokerage career in 1979 in the mailroom at LF Rothschild where he worked for nine years before its infamous demise in 1988 after the stock market crash the year prior. Dudowitz worked as an operations manager at Smith Barney and SG Warburg surviving various mergers. He became an AVP of operations at UBS Investment Bank where he worked for 10 years until 2005.
Dudowitz began working at Seaport Global Securities in March of 2005 where he eventually became the Director of Operations. He was respected by newcomers and experienced colleagues alike. He created the internship program at Seaport which led him to mentor of many beginning their careers in brokerage. The dedication and compassion he showed to those who worked with and for him during his 37 years on Wall Street was unparalleled.
While he loved his career, Dudowitz’s real passion was his family. He met his wife Juliet Dudowitz in 2001 online when match.com was in its infancy. Advertised as a “dog-lover”, Juliet, who’s less fond of dogs, was initially interested, but didn’t reach out. To her surprise, he contacted her and after fielding him for a few dates, she let him take her out to see the movie, Serendipity. They would spend the next 15 years together.
In 2004, the Dudowitz’s daughter, Stephanie, was born. Juliet has a daughter from a previous marriage, Alexia Faulkner, who Dudowitz loved just as his own. Ever the attentive father, when his girls made the Mahopac local and travel softball teams, he built them a batting cage in his back yard where they spent countless hours practicing together. He truly lived for his daughters and wife.
One of Dudowitz’s greatest passions was tending to his home, particularly his backyard. His lawn was pristine and garden well-tended. He owned ATVs with various attachments for tending his expansive lawn which he housed in his barn. He personally laid rocks and planted foliage around his pool and dutifully protected sensitive plants from deer in all seasons. His garden contained an abundance of tomato plants, as many Brooklynites do, that he made sauce out of every August and would last through the winter.
Dudowitz loved the beach most of all – he could be found sun-bathing and swimming all day. His friends and colleagues knew him for his German potato salad full of vinegar and bacon but his favorite food of all was pizza. He enjoyed cigars, rum and cokes and the occasional espresso martini. In his free time he enjoyed watching sports as he was a huge Mets, Rangers and Giants fan collecting all sorts of memorabilia over the years.
Dudowitz is survived by his wife Juliette, daughter Stephanie and step-daughter Alexia Faulkner; his father Al Dudowitz and his wife Mimi; his mother Doris Deane and her husband Jimmy; his sister Monique Benetatos Davies and her husband Hal, and his nephews Jimmy, Joey and Peter Benetatos.
