obituaries
NBA Evaluator, Teacher and Coach
Myron Rosenbaum Dies at 91
SASHA ROGELBERG | STAFF WRITER
P hysical education teacher, coach, referee and
evaluator of NBA offi cials Myron Rosenbaum
died on Sept. 14 at Beaumont in Bryn Mawr.

He was 91.

Rosenbaum’s love of sports, particularly basketball,
wove itself through his many interests and jobs.

As the athletic director and basketball coach at Har
Zion Temple in Penn Valley, Rosenbaum co-founded
Har Zion Fun and Fitness Club with his wife Deena,
where the two led athletic programming for children
for 20 years, beginning in the 1950s.

Th e couple also taught physical education together
at Overbrook High School, providing sex education
for students, a rarity at the time. Rosenbaum coached
varsity tennis and scouted players for the school’s
basketball team.

“He was really great with kids,” Deena Rosenbaum
said. “Basketball, to him, was like an art. He was very
adept at seeing who would be a good player and who
wouldn’t. He worked at it, and he loved it.”
An avid referee, Rosenbaum knew the rules of the
game and later became an evaluator for NBA offi cials
and for Continental Basketball Association super-
vised offi cials, where he used his ample experience
to scout referees and consult the leagues aft er games
on which offi cials were making fair calls. He traveled
across the East Coast with his wife from 1976-’81,
watching dozens of games, mostly on weekends.

Rosenbaum’s love for the sport inspired his broth-
er-in-law Jay Mandle to take interest in refereeing
and talent scouting. On a trip to the Caribbean,
Mandle, an economy professor at Colgate University,
conducted a study on local economics and refereed
on the side. He stumbled across a group of young
men playing basketball and sent Rosenbaum a tape
of one lanky young man.

Rosenbaum insisted that the young man be
Myron Rosenbaum in 2016, on a trip to visit
Lynn Rosenbaum
You are invited to
Re e m me e em
R Reme
anan ance c e Day
anc Mem
M em me ial i Service
Me SeSe Se rvrv rv i cei
In Memory of All Loved Ones
Sunday, October 2nd
at 12pm
Rabbi Isaac Leizerowski
Family, Friends and Public Welcome
Courtesy of Lynn Rosenbaum
Celebrating each life like no other.

ROOSEVELT MEMORIAL PARK
spacer Trevose
215-673-7500 JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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