Norm Rosenblatt

1931 - 2024

Norm Rosenblatt
12/04/1931 - 08/18/2024
Norman Lawrence Rosenblatt died peacefully August 18, 2024, at the age of 92. He lived a life full of family, love, enthusiasm and music.
Norm was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, the eldest of four children to Joseph and Evelyn Benowitz Rosenblatt.
Norm attended public schools in Salt Lake for elementary and middle schools, The Thacher School in Ojai, California for high school (where he recently was honored at his 75th reunion), then college at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut. After graduating, he enlisted in the United States Navy and served as a lieutenant communications officer for 4 years.
While at Yale, on a blind date, Norm met and fell in love with Nan Chisholm, then a student at Connecticut College. The two were married in 1955 and settled in Salt Lake where they began a family. Norm worked at Eimco Corporation in Salt Lake for several years until he left to start a weekly newspaper, the Rocky Mountain Review, which evolved into a commercial printing business.
In 1973, Norm and Nan started a new chapter in their lives when they moved the family to San Francisco. Norm teamed up with Nan, who had become a successful interior designer to open a 19 room boutique bed-and-breakfast hotel. The Washington Square Inn was soon followed by The Inn at Union Square, a 30 room hotel in downtown San Francisco.
In 1986, Norm and Nan built and operated the Garden Court Hotel, a 62 room luxury hotel in Palo Alto. The couple's final venture was the Vineyard Creek, a 300+ room hotel they built and operated in Santa Rosa's wine country.
Norm was a unique athlete. He took up running before it was popular (people would stop to ask if he was being chased). To keep both mind and body sharp, he memorized poetry on the treadmill. Until very recently, he would walk from the Embarcadero up the many hills to their apartment on Nob Hill, soaking in the City he loved.
Above all, music was Norm's passion. He inherited that passion from his mother, an accomplished pianist. As a young boy he took piano lessons in classical music and then jazz. In his 40s and beyond he played Broadway musical numbers at family events. He composed parody lyrics to that music, cleverly tailoring them to the activities of family members. Over time this ability and passion lead to combining his piano composition skills with his love of poetry. He used his favorite published poems as libretto for original pieces of jazz music. He formed a band including his piano teacher Ken French and vocalist Clairdee who performed the pieces in jazz clubs. They can be heard at https://www.jazzvoice.net.
For several years before he died, he was composing his masterwork, a cantata setting to music the poem The Undressing by renowned poet Li-Young Lee. He was a rare and special person who remained at the height of creativity in his 90s.
Norman leaves behind his loving wife Nan, his siblings Steve (Martha), Toby (Sally), and Mindy (Evelyn); his children Darcey (David), Josh (Kate), Brooke (Marc) and Eli (Amanda), as well as seven grandchildren, Sarah (Joe), Ali (Jhonattan), Benjamin, Coby, Martha, Solomon and Victoria and two great-grandchildren, Jade and Maya.
Celebration of life to be planned.