Norman Gelman

Norman Ira Gelman was born in Washington, Pennsylvania, on March 20, 1929. The only child of Emma (née Horovitz) and Jerome Gelman, Norm spent most of his childhood in the virtually all-Jewish neighborhood of Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh. His father, a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, was a pharmacist who owned a drugstore, which got the family through the Depression. His mother was a talented homemaker, known for her baking, knitting, and needlepoint skills.

Norm grew up surrounded by aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides of the family. After he completed his junior year at Taylor Allderdice High School, his father took a job as a salesman for the Samsonite Corporation, then called Shwayder Brothers, which required the family to relocate to San Francisco. They moved to a house on the Great Highway with a view of the Pacific Ocean, and Norm rose to meet the challenges and opportunities of his new, far more diverse environment. He graduated number one in his class at the High School of Commerce, while simultaneously interning as a copy boy at the San Francisco Examiner, which fed his growing passion for journalism.

Norm was the sole member of his graduating class accepted into the University of California, Berkeley, only to discover a school so unprepared to cope with the thousands of new recipients of the GI educational benefits that introductory classes were held in overflow tents with sound piped in. Meanwhile, after a year in the Bay Area, Norm’s parents moved to Denver, because his father had been transferred. Norm got on a train and headed toward the Rockies, enrolling in the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he was accepted into the prestigious honors program. He joined the Jewish fraternity Phi Sigma Delta and excelled at his studies, earning his place as a member of the Honors Union and Phi Beta Kappa.

Norm soon met Esther Paper, a bright, vivacious auburn-haired beauty who was then also accepted in the honors program, and Norm was smitten. In 1951, he graduated summa cum laude, earning his BA in Political Science, Philosophy, and Journalism. The young couple married, and Norm turned down his acceptance into a master’s program at Columbia University so his wife could complete her studies. Instead, he enrolled in the University of Colorado master’s program. He became the editor of the university’s paper, the Colorado Daily, where he championed the fight against McCarthyism and the Red Scare then sweeping the campus and the country.

During an uneventful stint in the US Army at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, where Norm served as an editor of their paper, Norm and Esther welcomed their first child, daughter Judith. They then moved to St. Petersburg, Florida, where Norm worked at the St. Petersburg Times as a reporter and editorial writer. Twenty months later, Norm was accepted as a Congressional Fellow by the prestigious American Political Science Association, so the Gelman family relocated to Silver Spring, Maryland, where their younger daughter, Sharon, was born.

In the Washington, D.C. area, Norm worked as a staff member of JFK’s presidential campaign, as a staffer on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, where he focused on international trade, and then as an editorial writer for the Congressional Quarterly. Norm then joined Newmyer Associates, where he led their foreign economic policy analysis efforts and served as a consultant to major U.S. corporations including IBM, Citicorp, and Ford Motor Company. He became the firm’s executive vice president, devoting extra attention to mentoring the few young women at the firm and helping them rise in a field dominated by men. After 36 years, he retired from his position.

Throughout their many years in Maryland, Norm and Esther were deeply involved in the Democratic Party in Montgomery County as well as in efforts to integrate the schools and purge the county of cronyism. Norm was a longtime member of the local Democratic Central Committee. Later, while Esther served multiple terms on the Montgomery County Council, including as president, Norm took on the role of wise party elder.

After retiring, Norm served on the Maryland Commission on Human Relations, including as its chairman, for 18 years. He also served on the boards of various Jewish organizations, including the American Jewish Committee (president, Washington chapter, and member of the national board of governors), the American Jewish International Relations Institute (vice-chair), Har Shalom Congregation, and Americans for Peace Now. Norm, who remained engaged in local, national, and international politics for the rest of his life, was committed to fighting fascism, preserving democracy, and pursing a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

Norm was also an avid reader and music lover, and he and Esther were passionate supporters of the arts. The especially loved the theater and contemporary ballet, regularly attending performances at the Shakespeare Theater, the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, and Olney Theater. Norm was the published author of many op-eds, essays, analytical reports, narrative nonfiction, and a novel.

After 65 years of marriage, Norm’s beloved wife Esther died in 2016. In addition to his daughters, Judith and Sharon, Norm is survived by his son-in-law Steven Salop, his three grandchildren Aviva Diaz, Ezra Salop, and Joshua Salop (Morgan Day), his great grandson, Zion Diaz, and nieces, nephews, and cousins on both the Gelman and Paper/Greenberg sides of his family as well as by numerous dear friends.

For those who wish to honor his memory, please vote blue no matter who and consider contributing to the American Civil Liberties Union and/or New Jewish Narrative.