Joel A. Rosen

Joel Rosen, of West Hartford, CT., died on January 20th after a struggle with Parkinson’s disease that had lasted more than fifteen years. He died in his bed, at home, surrounded by the people he loved, and who now find it difficult to imagine a life without him.

He grew up poor on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The neighborhood is now known as Alphabet City, in much the same way that the tenement of his childhood has long since been razed and replaced with a condominium. His parents were born in the US, but their parents, who lived nearby, were refugees from Russia. His father Irving drove a truck and eventually the family was able to move to Queens. In keeping with the pattern, Joel went to college – the first in his family -- with the goal of becoming a teacher. This progress was obstructed but not halted by, first, the death of his father, and then by the Vietnam War. He never expressed regret at being drafted, and was fortunate to serve on an airbase outside of Saigon. He got to see a part of the world, including Japan when on leave, that he wouldn’t have seen otherwise. Less fortunately, he was also exposed to the Agent Orange that went to sleep along his nerves, but woke up a bit before his 70th birthday, the day he received his diagnosis.

After his service in the army, he concluded his education (he ultimately earned two Master’s degrees). Most of his career was spent in the New York City public school system, at I.S. 99 in Midwood, Brooklyn. There he taught seventh and eighth grade history (his passion) and science (as needed). It was also at I.S. 99 that he met the love of his life, Helen. Only a couple months after their first date (a Mets game), they were married on July 20, 1969, which was, coincidentally, the day of the first moon landing. One great leap for Joel and Helen, one might say. After marrying, they were able, with the help of her parents, to buy a beautiful half-Tudor house in Brooklyn, with a pitiful little garden that nevertheless, under Joel’s careful watch, yielded an excessive number of tomatoes and eggplants each summer.

Joel and Helen remained in that house for 46 years, raising their only child, David, there. They left Brooklyn and moved to West Hartford when old age made remaining in place dangerous. They came to appreciate West Hartford, but it was never really home. When he was in his health, Joel was an athletic man, walking the two miles to and from work every day that the weather permitted, and maintaining a 9 (or so) handicap in golf. Other passions remained until the end, or nearly: reading, listening to classical music (especially Mahler), and being with his family.

Joel is predeceased by his parents Irving and Rose (nee Kramer), and by his brother Walter. He is survived by his wife of 56 years, Helen (nee Weiss) and son David. Donations in his memory may be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation (http://parkinson.org).