Robert I Lappin

Lappin himself was born and raised in Salem and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1943. He made floor polishers and vacuum cleaners under the name Shetland - for Shetland Road in Marblehead, where he lived before Swampscott. The brand was noted for television commercials showing how his machine could pick up a bowling ball. In 1958, Lappin bought the shuttered Pequot Mills on the Salem waterfront, home of what was once the country’s largest manufacturer of sheets and pillowcases. Lappin turned the old mill into a still-bustling business complex called Shetland Park, now home to enterprises including the Southern Essex County Registry of Deeds and Salem Academy, the city’s first charter school. In 1968, Lappin sold the vacuum cleaner business, and a few years later, he established his Youth To Israel program. It wasn’t until 1991 that Lappin started investing with Madoff, after hearing from a group of employees he had sent to New York to interview money managers. Lappin is survived by his son Andy Lappin and his wife Diane; his son Peter Lappin; his daughter Nancy Lappin; and his cherished grandchildren: Lauren Sarah Lappin, Danielle Faith Lappin, Alexander Brett Lappin, Jacklyn Sarah Lappin, Matthew Alexander Lappin, and Benjamin Poser.