About Us DeWitt Memorial Funeral Home

DeWitt Memorial Funeral Home has been owned by Jan Maloff for close to 25 years.  He has built it up to a thriving business serving all members of the community. He enjoys the personal contact he has with his clients as he takes the extra time to go in depth in getting to know them. He is dedicated to his business and the funeral home itself where his caring handiwork can be seen throughout the establishment. Jan Maloff is also very kind and selfless. He is an extremely active member of the community. He founded an annual bike giveaway and after 11 years still continues to coordinate the work. Every fall, DeWitt Memorial Funeral Home begins the bicycle drive. This involves collecting used donated bikes, which he, along with his staff, refurbishes. Then on the weekend before Christmas, he holds a giant bike giveaway at a local high school. Anyone, and this includes small children all the way up to adults, needing a bike is allowed to take one for free. In December of 2006, Jan Maloff and friends fixed up and gave away over 2000 bicycles. Because of his own commitment to this program, he received the highly prestigious national Jefferson award in Washington, D.C. in 2004. He has also received awards from the Syracuse school district for the past several years. Jan Maloff’s dedicated and caring staff create a family oriented atmosphere.   Syracuse City School District 2008 Educational Foundation Honoree: Jan Maloff As a sixth grader in the Syracuse City School system, Jan Maloff used to ride his bike to school, past the Onondaga Orphan’s Home (now Elmcrest Children’s Center) on Salt Springs Road. He observed that very few of his classmates of children in the neighborhood had bicycles. From this early experience the seed of an idea was developed… that every child should have a bicycle. Jan often says, “I feel the freedom a bicycle represents, it is a rite of passage from infant to young adult.” Twelve years ago, Jan Maloff started buying bicycles from thrift stores and garage sales. In that first year, he collected, repaired, and distributed 175 bicycles from a parking lot at St. Joseph’s Hospital to children that didn’t have bikes. He had informed the media of his plans, and the bikes were gone in 20 minutes. The following week, he gave away another 200 bikes, and thus started an annual tradition. Since those early days, Jan has given away thousands of bicycles to city children each year. During the week before Christmas, city children without bicycles eagerly look forward to the “Bicycle Man” and his annual giveaway. In 2007, Jan distributed 2,100 bicycles! He acknowledges that each year the needs are always more than the donations can provide. This summer, Jan will be partnering with the Syracuse Police Department to host bicycle rodeos where he will repair children’s bicycles. Community bike rides with police officers will be available to encourage children to establish good relationships with city police officers. Four years ago, the Syracuse City School District got involved in the bicycle giveaway when administrators at Fowler High School offered Jan the use of the school for his event. An additional benefactor of the giveaway has been Doug Burns of Fayetteville Dodge, who has donated 500 bicycle helmets to children at the event for the past eleven years. Jan has been honored with the national Jefferson Award in Washington, DC for his bicycle giveaway program. He attended George Washington and Charles Andrews Elementary Schools, H.W. Smith Junior High School, and is a graduate of Nottingham High School. He is the owner/operator of the Dewitt Memorial and Ginsberg Maloff Funeral Homes in Dewitt.