Jay Chananie, 79, real estate developer

Jay Chananie of Ridgefield, a shopping center developer and manager who was a pilot in World War II, died Tuesday, Aug. 12, in Danbury Hospital from injuries suffered in a May 1 auto accident in Danbury. He was 79 years old and the husband of Gloria Stansell Chananie.
Mr. Chananie was born in Flushing, Long Island, on Sept. 17, 1923, a son of Robert and Sadie Chananie. He grew up in Washington Heights, and graduated from DeWitt Clinton High School in the Bronx.
During World War II, he was a captain in the Army Air Force in the South Pacific, serving as a pilot of troop transports with the 375th Troop Carrier Division. Mr. Chananie piloted the first plane to leave Guam to bring American servicemen into Japan after the Japanese signed the peace accords.
After the war Mr. Chananie went into commercial real estate, developing shopping centers across the country. He was still a part owner and the manager of the Mount Kisco Square and Fishkill Plaza shopping centers in nearby New York.
Jay and Gloria Chananie met in 1951 through a mutual friend while she was a student at Juilliard School of Music. “It was love at first sight,” Mrs. Chananie said. They were married six months later, on Sept. 28, 1951.
The next year, the couple moved to Stamford where they lived for 40 years and raised their family. They came to Ridgefield nine years ago.
Mr. Chananie was a charter member of the International Council of Shopping Centers. He was very active with the senior golfers at the Ridgefield Golf Club and belonged to the Ridgefield Men’s Club.
Besides his wife, Mr. Chananie is survived by two daughters, Linda Montanaro of Weston and Lauren Tripp of Ridgefield; a son, Steven Chananie of New Rochelle, N.Y.; six grandchildren, Mark and Gregg Montanaro, Grace Tripp, and Ben, Helen and Melissa Chananie; a brother, Richard Chananie of Pennsylvania; a sister, Jane Rogavin of South Carolina; and his mother-in-law, Grace Stansell, who is 98.
The Rev. Dale Rosenberger will conduct a memorial service Thursday, Aug. 28, at 4 in the First Congregational Church.
Contributions in Mr. Chananie’s memory may be made to a charity of choice.