Sol Adler, Disgraced Former Head of 92nd Street Y, Commits Suicide

By Sigal Samuel May 11, 2014

Sol Adler, the disgraced former executive director of Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y, has hanged himself in his Brooklyn home, the New York Post reported Sunday.

His wife discovered his body on Friday morning, according to police.

Adler, 60, had been fired from his position at the Y in 2012 after serving as director for two decades. He was ousted after an anonymous letter revealed that he had been engaging in an extramarital affair with his personal assistant, Catherine Marto.

At the time, the Y explained in a statement that its decision to fire Adler was the result of his “undisclosed long-term personal relationship” with Marto.

The nonprofit cultural institution also fired Marto for failing to provide satisfactory answers to an investigation of her son-in-law, Sal Taddeo, an ex-convict who had served as the Y’s director of facilities and was suspected of accepting kickbacks from vendors.

Other employees were fired “for engaging in and failing to report suspected inappropriate behavior.”

No criminal behavior is suspected in connection with Adler’s death.

Sigal Samuel is the former Opinion Editor at the Forward. When she’s not tackling race or identity politics, she’s hunting down her Indian Jewish family’s Kabbalistic secret society. Her novel THE MYSTICS OF MILE END tells the story of a dysfunctional family with a dangerous mystical obsession. Her writing has also appeared in The Daily Beast, The Rumpus, and BuzzFeed. Follow Sigal on Twitter.

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