FUNERAL DETAILS
George C. Rosenwald
George C. Rosenwald, 90, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, died on 30 June 2023. The Funeral was on Tuesday, 04 July 2023. Rabbi Robert Dobrusin officiated. George C. Rosenwald, 90, died on June 30, 2023 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, after a brief illness. Our beloved husband, father, and grandfather was a brilliant, kind, curious, jolly, thoughtful and deeply loving man. We were unbelievably lucky to have him doggedly rooting for us throughout our entire lives. George was born on December 13, 1932, in Vienna, Austria, the only child of Max and Shelley Rosenwald. He fled Austria with his parents at the age of 5, after the Anschluss in August 1938, then spent 10 difficult years as a refugee in Switzerland. In 1948 he and his parents finally were able to emigrate to America. It took resilience and grit, but he thrived. He received his B.A. from City College of New York and his Ph.D. from Yale University. By the fall of 1958, he was a 25-year-old professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. Shortly after arriving in Ann Arbor, he met the light of his life, Gay Mericle. They married in 1961, raised two daughters, and shared 62 years of friendship and love. He was a thinker and a scholar who influenced countless students and colleagues over his many years as a psychology professor (he could have just as happily been a faculty member in music or English or religious studies or history or philosophy… he was interested in and knowledgeable about it all). His broad-ranging scholarship extended to Thomas Mann, Shakespeare, structuralism, semiotics, creativity, philosophy of science, and social science methodology. He was a compelling proponent for qualitative, phenomenological, narrative, multiple-case, and life history research. His students, to whom he was devoted, learned well his admonition that they not mistake counting for thinking. He was a proud Jew who credited the Brith Hazofim (Jewish boy scouts) in Zurich as having saved his life, providing a sense of community and belonging he’d never before experienced. He adored and deeply understood classical music, theatre and visual art. He loved to travel. There could never be too many helpings of dessert. He had a ready laugh, delighted in jokes, wove tall tales for the grandkids, and self-published two volumes of humorous poetry. Above all, George cherished his family. So often he would gaze around the table with joy and amazement on his face. He would express not only his love, but his feeling of profound good fortune. He referred to his family as “the gold in his life.” George is survived by his wife Gay, his daughters Julie (Steve Hathaway) and Eva (Christopher Taylor), his five grandchildren, Joey, Lena, Henry, Ruby, and Daniel, and numerous nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be announced later in the year. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in his memory to Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County. or the University of Michigan Musical Society. |