obituaries
Bowling ‘Fairy Godmother,’
Bestselling Author
Elaine Brumberg Dies at 81
E laine Brumberg, the bestselling
author of three beauty and cos-
metics books and the owner of
Thunderbird Lanes in Warminster, died
on April 17. She was 81.

Described as living life like a “race
car driver” by daughter Amy Seiden,
Brumberg lived life her way, not letting
age define her.

For her 70th birthday celebration,
Brumberg decided she wanted to go sky-
diving. Her partner of a decade, David
Singer, coordinated the trip.

Brumberg had no reservations about
the experience, but she did have one
request: She’d agree to take the dive
along with a tandem master, “as long as
he’s a hunk.”
“I got a former Navy SEAL to take her
out,” Singer said.

Aptly, Brumberg was the author of
“Ageless: What Every Woman Needs to
Know to Look and Feel Great,” “Take
Care of Your Skin” and her 1986 bestsell-
ing debut, “Save Your Money, Save Your
Face: What Every Cosmetics Buyer Needs
to Know,” which earned her an hourlong
guest spot on “The Phil Donahue Show”
and The Washington Post dub of “the
Ralph Nader of the cosmetics industry.”
Brumberg’s books worked to empower
women, particularly those going through
menopause, by providing beauty insights
and expertise.

She was inspired to share cosmetic
secrets after being fired from her makeup
artist position at Borghese, where she
told a customer that one of their products
caused allergic reactions.

After her time as a beauty writer for
several publications and years after the
death of her husband Norman, who
owned five area bowling alleys, in 2011,
Brumberg decided to buy one of his
alleys, Thunderbird Lanes, at age 78.

She earned the nickname “Fairy
Godmother of Bowling” when she
decided to take Thunderbird Lanes to
hospital patients and sick children, pack-
ing up portable bins and bowling balls
and dressing herself in a bright pink
dress and plastic crown. Brumberg also
served veterans and people with disabili-
ties and hosted fundraisers at the alley.

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Sponsored by:
In partnership with
Elaine Brumberg as the “Fairy
Godmother of Bowling”
Blumberg was determined to be suc-
cessful in the face of the antisemitism she
experienced as a child.

Born in Pittsburgh in 1940 and raised
in western Pennsylvania, Brumberg was
the only Jew in a class of 350 students.

“I had very few friends because their
parents would not let them associate with
a Jewish girl,” Brumberg said in a 2020
Jewish Exponent article.

The adversity only made her more set
on success: “I was determined to be suc-
cessful; I didn’t want to be just anyone.”
After moving to the Philadelphia area,
Brumberg became a longtime member of
Keneseth Israel in Elkins Park and also
was a member of Congregation M’kor
Shalom in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

“Being Jewish was something she was
very proud of,” son Bruce Brumberg said.

“She always hosted a great break fast at
her house on Yom Kippur.”
Brumberg was a proud grandmother
who loved spending time with her grand-
children down the shore.

She also met Singer down the shore
in Margate, New Jersey, 13 years ago at
the Fourth of July fireworks. The couple
moved in together five years ago.

In 2020, Brumberg and Singer both
contracted COVID-19. While Brumberg
had a milder case, Singer became severely
ill and was on a ventilator for two weeks.

“Even though I was in a coma, I could
hear voices,” Singer said. “And I could
hear Elaine’s voice every night: She’d call,
they’d put the phone to my ear and she
would tell me she loved me.”
Brumberg is survived by her children,
Seiden, Bruce and Harriet Brumberg and
Scott Dimetrosky; their spouses; Singer’s
daughter Rachel Hahn; nine grandchil-
dren and one great-grandchild. JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Courtesy of Lee Shelly
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER