Norman Charles Schwartz

Norman Schwartz was born June 22, 1932 in NY to doting parents, Irvine and Joseph Schwartz. He grew up in Manhattan Beach and spent much of his time playing with cousin Matty, as he remained an only child. He remembered riding his bicycle across the Brooklyn Bridge and riding the subway anywhere it could take him, at a very young age. His mother spent much of her time as a caregiver to her mother and sister-in-law. His father was an accomplished attorney in the field of customs law. His parents moved to Westchester County, and then to Manhattan, where Irvine fell in love with a co-op apartment at Sutton Place on E 53rd Street. Norm received his bachelor's degree and law degree from Cornell University. His education was temporarily interrupted from 1955-1962 by active duty in Korea as a 1st Lieutenant in the Army. Norman practiced customs law with the firm of Siegel, Mandell, & Davidson, and lived in Greenwich Village until retirement. In the 1980's he bought a weekend getaway home in Bearsville, in upstate NY. Norman sang with the championship Big Apple Chorus in NY for several years. He loved the barbershop style and traveled to competitions all over the Mid-Atlantic Region and the Buckeye Invitational in Columbus, Ohio. Norman met Katherine (Kathy) in 1988 on a weekend trip to his place on Ohayo Mt. outside Woodstock. They were married in 1990 in Saugerties, and resided there until 2004, when Kathy retired from elementary teaching. Norman grew tired of commuting to sing in NYC and joined the Racing City Chorus in Saratoga, which also involved commuting. He and Kathy bought a condo at the Sagamore Resort in Bolton Landing in 1995, where he sometimes spent the night after rehearsals. He competed in the Northeast District with the new chorus, which took him from Montreal to Portland, ME and included all the states north of NJ and north of Saratoga in NY and eastern Canada. Kathy and Norm enjoyed international competitions in Montreal and Salt Lake City and yearly festivals in Bolton Landing that attracted thousands of barbershop fans from across the country. Norman was an avid reader; his mother claimed he taught himself to read from the NY Times at age three. He loved history, British in particular. His constant reading of the works of Shakespeare and attendance at every performance he could fit in made him quite an authority on the subject. Many felt his missed his true calling as a professor of literature or history. Kathy and Norm moved to Oro Valley, AZ (an unincorporated area of Tucson) in August 2004 in order to escape northern winters and enjoy the beauty of the desert and mountains. Norm sang briefly with the Saddlebrooke Chorus and volunteered at the Golden Goose thrift shop, which benefits local charities. He and Kathy both volunteered as reading tutors at Laguna Elementary School for 5 years, with the Reading Seed program. An avid political activist & volunteer, Norm worked at a soup kitchen in Manhatten, plus various political causes there, then worked as a trail maintainer with the NY/NJ Trail Conference upstate, joined the Winston Farm Alliance in Saugerties and the Saugerties Democratic Committee. In Tucson, he worked on Gabrielle Giffords first congressional campaign, and helped Pima Co. Democrats register voters. For many years, Norm sponsored a needy child in Mexico through Children, Inc. Norm's support for worthy causes and organizations was amazing! A partial list included: Southern AZ Humane Society; AZ-Sonora Desert Museum; Community Food Bank; ACLU; PFAW; the American Lung Assoc.; America's 2nd Harvest; Environmental Action Fund; Gospel Rescue Mission; Habitat for Humanity; Salvation Army; Big Brothers Big Sisters; Sierra Club; Save Darfur Mission; The Smile Train; Earth Justice Coalition; Doctors Without Borders; American Cancer Society; C.A.R.E.; The Nature Conservancy; Leukemia Society; Project Hope; Rainforest Action Network; Mercy Corps; Brady Campaign; Greenpeace; Pima Council on Aging; American Red Cross.... Norm had a huge heart and social conscience, as evidenced by all the charities he supported. He was totally uninterested in material possessions, preferring the enjoyment of nature, good literature, friends and helping others. He spent his last weeks at home, resting peacefully with his two kitties, Tyson and Maggie, sleeping beside him. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to one of Norman's organizations. A memorial service will be held in Saugerties, NY at a later date.