Sol Garfunkel, president of the lighting fixture business which bears his name, was born in Austria in 1886 and came to America in 1899, at the age of thirteen years, settling in Jersey City, New Jersey, where he engaged in the lighting business. In 1912 he came to Utica, New York, and purchased the crockery business of William E. Gray & Company, an old firm which had been in business for thirty years. He changed it from the crockery business to lighting and reorganized it under the name of the Garfunkel Company, of which he is president. This company does a wholesale and retail business of lighting fixtures of all kinds, at No. 64 Genesee street, Utica, New York, and is the largest store of its kind in the state.
Sol Garfunkel was educated in Vienna, the Austrian capital. In 1905 he was united in marriage to Miss Lillian Engelson of Jersey City, and they are the parents of three daughters: Eleanor, Beatrice and Celesta Garfunkel. Mr. Garfunkel is president of the Ceelite Company and is a member of the Chamber of Commerce, the City Club and the Elks Lodge No. 33, of his home city. As a means of diversion Mr. Garfunkel enjoys motoring.