REVEREND CARL ROSENBLUM
Northampton, MA — The Reverend Carl D. Rosenblum, 81, of Northampton, MA passed away on February 13, 2022. Carl was born in 1940 to parents with roots in the immigrant communities of Philadelphia, PA. He attended Abraham Lincoln High School in the Pennypack neighborhood, and then determined to enter the ministry, he attended Reformed Episcopal Seminary and received his Bachelors of Divinity in 1961. Carl furthered his education at Johns Hopkins University, graduating with his B.A. in 1965. Later in life, Carl attended Hebrew Union College and received his doctorate in pastoral counseling in 2006.
Carl worked and volunteered in youth ministry in Baltimore, MD, Rochester, NY, and Pittsburgh, PA. In 1967 he was ordained at Bellefield Presbyterian Church by the Presbytery of Pittsburgh. He was installed as Assistant Pastor at Pine Street Presbyterian Church in Harrisburg, PA later that year, and then as Pastor of First Presbyterian Church Pottstown in 1980.
In 1983, Carl heeded God’s call–and the call to adventure–by becoming Pastor of Broadway Presbyterian Church in New York City. He and his family fully embraced their new community on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where Carl found a love for the diverse, artistic, and academic community, as well as a commitment to helping the church grow its mission to serve the food, housing and care needs of the neighborhood’s unhoused and low-income residents. After serving Broadway Presbyterian until 1998, he supported various congregations around the greater New York/New Jersey area. Retiring in 2010, Carl lived in Queens–where he stayed connected to community by offering pastoral counseling at the Jackson Heights Community Church–and then in Northampton, MA, near two of his three daughters and their families.
Carl lived his faith through his pastoral duties and by advocating for a more fair society. He was a strong proponent of immigrant rights, LGBTQIA+ rights, and democratic values. He traveled to South Africa to protest apartheid and to Nicaragua to protest injustices there. He supported the work of food pantries in New York and Northampton and sat for many hours with newly arrived immigrants to support their applications for citizenship. Carl traveled extensively and enjoyed meeting people from different cultures. He loved to dance, and his children fondly remember him taking disco lessons. He loved museums, theater, dining out, and a good chat over coffee.
Carl was preceded in death by his parents Louis F. Rosenblum and Mary Patricia (Cullen) Rosenblum, his brother James Rosenblum, his sister Harriet Chesser, and his nephew Jason Rosenblum. He is survived by his sisters Marjorie Rosenblum and Frances Sabella; his three children, Jennifer Haley, Karen Bayne, and Heather Maynard; and by six grandchildren, seven nieces and nephews, other extended family, and many friends.
A memorial service will be held at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Northampton, MA on March 19, 2022 at 11:00am. It will also be live-streamed from the church’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.co/stjohnsnorthampton). In lieu of flowers the family requests donations to the lunch program at Broadway Community (broadwaycommunity.org) and Manna Community Kitchen (mannanorthampton.org). Please go to CZELUSNIAKFUNERALHOME.COM for online condolences.
Published by Daily Hampshire Gazette on Feb. 19, 2022.
