Obituary for Arnold M. Schwartz
Arnold Malcolm Schwartz, age 84, University of Michigan, AB 1960, Northwestern University, JD 1963. Beloved husband of Judith, nee Glantz; cherished father of Andrew (Pamela) Schwartz and Paula (Marc) McKernan; loving grandfather of Daniel and Jenna Schwartz, Thomas and Jonelle McKernan. A memorial service will be held Monday, April 17th, 2023, at 3:00 PM at Temple Beth El, 3610 Dundee Road, Northbrook, IL. Family and friends who can't attend are welcome to watch the service on Arnold's webpage live beginning at 3:00 PM CST, April 17th, 2023, or any time after on www.mitzvahfunerals.com . In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Arnold’s memory to Jewish National Fund for Tree Planting. Arrangement by Mitzvah Memorial Funerals, 630-Mitzvah 630-648-9824
Arnold Malcolm Schwartz was born on December 20, 1938 to two young inexperienced parents: Anne and Harold Schwartz. He was a willful and adventurous child who spoke early and walked late. His first sentence at 18 months of age was: “Honey, take the baby.” His poor skinny little mother was still toting him around.
I loved hearing of his youthful escapades from Annie. Little Arnie clearly had his parental units buffaloed early on. At 2½, he escaped his parents’ Morse Avenue apartment, crossed Sheridan Road and went to the beach. Annie had told him to wait until later. She caught him crossing back home and said she screamed so loud that traffic stopped in both directions. At 3 he watched his Dad using his trusty tool box to assemble a tricycle. By the end of the day, the tool box and the totally disassembled trike sat on the living room floor. The guilty party was quite proud of his work.
One of my favorite stories occurred when the family moved to a large court apartment building with wooden back porches. At 6am the parents awoke to echoing shouts of “Shut up, Arnold! Go back to bed!” Arnie’s parents peered out of their windows to find their 6 year-old in the middle of the court, many newspapers at his feet, calling out a newsboy chant, “Get your early morning paper!” He had once again escaped, climbed the back porches and collected all the papers that had been delivered and was hawking them.
Arn developed into a witty, warm excellent student who was double-promoted several times in the Chicago school system. He was talented in both science and language. We met at the University of Michigan just before he went on to attend law school at Northwestern. He was a talented raconteur of stories and jokes with a large repertoire. Tension over finals eased, I was distracted and charmed.
Arnold was a strong man. He had firm and well-thought out opinions and views of life. A calm and trusted attorney, his clients relied on his well-researched and reliable opinions. His special love and area of expertise was real estate. His retirement from the practice of law was deferred for two years while he dealt with two upsetting cases affecting some needy clients. Retired at 82, clients were still calling for advice two years later.
Arn had many interests. His adventurous side enjoyed scuba diving, hiking, and sailing our 16 foot Hobie Cat, especially out on a trapeze rig, “Exerting tremendous force on the mast”. He loved his scuba trips with son, Andy and Regatta adventures with daughter, Paula. His most special talent was with words: puns, relating of jokes and stories, puzzles. He was a wonderful scrabble player, aggressive and highly competitive. Arn joined a serious local Scrabble group and loved competing. I think his most special talent was with languages. He took a few years of Latin in high school, one year of conversational Spanish in college, and could still speak Spanish well enough to be complimented whenever we traveled to a Spanish speaking locale (albeit only in the present tense). His pronunciation and vocabulary recall were excellent. Arn later went on to study Spanish in New Trier Extension classed and finally learned all the various tenses and nuances. He loved it. And his long-time teacher at New Trier adored him.
When we traveled in Greece, he picked up the alphabet and started sounding out words. In Italy he could see the similarities between Spanish and Italian and started to attempt to speak. In France he got into some trouble but the natives all laughed. I remember the time he asked me the name for the toilet in French. He marched up to the server in a patisserie, somehow, where is the toilet, “Ou est la toilette?” came out “Vous est la toilette”? (Vous is where in German). The woman laughed, came out from behind the counter, took him by the hand opened the door, pushed him in and slammed the door. I was amazed. He had just called her a toilet and the French are known for their snotty attitude about their language.
Arn participated in two treks in New Zealand: the Milford and the Routeburn. He adored both and they provided so many happy memories and new audiences for his stories. We were fortunate to travel extensively in our early years of marriage through our 70’s. We loved recalling our trips with each other, friends and family. So many shared journeys to treasure.
Arn participated in our Glencoe community by serving on the Park District Board and as Park Board president. He served on a committee that ran Camp Michigania, the Alumni Family Camp of the University of Michigan. Our family spent over 20 years at that camp. That’s where we all learned to sail.
One of Arn’s life-long interests was coins. He loved the history of the various strikes and the sculptors who designed them. He had amassed an impressive collection of American Standing Liberty quarters. He and a friend were admitted to the private collection at the Smithsonian. The curator at the time was a distant grandson of Dr Samuel Mudd, of the Lincoln assassination era (Always another story).
Another favorite hobby was golf. Arn was active in two senior leagues at Sportsman Golf Course in Northbrook and could play through last Fall. He and his buddy Al Schoeneman had such fun scouting for prizes and awards for the league. They both loved competing within the league and each other. He so hoped for another year.
We started our family when Arn was 24. He was a caring, loving father, who played easily with our two children, eager to share his interests and hobbies. Golf, sailing, traveling, music, were a few. He was so proud of Andy’s legal career, and Paula’s musical abilities. Competition over making puns and word games was fierce and there was always a jigsaw puzzle in the works on a table in our home. We felt so successful as parents: our kids are loving and kind strivers. They, as well as their spouses, Pam and Marc, have been supportive the last several years.
Our four grandchildren have been special: supplying love and fun in our lives. Arn enjoyed their development as individuals; shared trips, visits to museums, teaching them to play golf. He could practice his love of schtick like the jellybean guessing contest. We spent hours tracking down new flavors to stump our contestants. They evolved into his whole office and some of their relatives. It went on and on until jalapeno jellybeans almost resulted in Arn’s early demise. Ask any of our grands about the shower song: they will either laugh or sing it for you.
And then there were our dogs! Nine of them during our 63 years of marriage. Arn adored them: cosseted and played with them and they in turn tickled him and encouraged his desire for fun. Our latest animal, a four- year-old silver standard poodle, named Gulliver, was Arn’s all-time favorite. I finally figured out why: the two soulmates, both willful and adventurous, were a perfect match.
How do you measure a life? By good works and benevolence, by career accomplishments, by good and loving nature, or by role as caretaker? Arnold was a witty, eloquent, vibrant, kind, generous and loving person. He could be crusty at times and perhaps a bit judgmental but was usually smiling (often at his own jokes). As Arn aged, he seemed to push his boundaries of experience: learning to sail in his 30’s; scuba diving in his 40’s to 60’s; hiking treks and zip lining in his 60’s. Some of us get more careful as we grow older. He never lost the zest for entertaining and telling a good story. He wanted to continue to travel and see the world. He will be missed.
To continue his legacy and to remember him alive and vibrant, we are collecting his stories and jokes, puns, and some of his schtick. His family was often his best audience. Even in unpleasant circumstances, he could always make me laugh. I hope that his memory will bring a smile to your face.
Judith Schwartz
April 15, 2023
Arnold Malcolm Schwartz was born on December 20, 1938 to two young inexperienced parents: Anne and Harold Schwartz. He was a willful and adventurous child who spoke early and walked late. His first sentence at 18 months of age was: “Honey, take the baby.” His poor skinny little mother was still toting him around.
I loved hearing of his youthful escapades from Annie. Little Arnie clearly had his parental units buffaloed early on. At 2½, he escaped his parents’ Morse Avenue apartment, crossed Sheridan Road and went to the beach. Annie had told him to wait until later. She caught him crossing back home and said she screamed so loud that traffic stopped in both directions. At 3 he watched his Dad using his trusty tool box to assemble a tricycle. By the end of the day, the tool box and the totally disassembled trike sat on the living room floor. The guilty party was quite proud of his work.
One of my favorite stories occurred when the family moved to a large court apartment building with wooden back porches. At 6am the parents awoke to echoing shouts of “Shut up, Arnold! Go back to bed!” Arnie’s parents peered out of their windows to find their 6 year-old in the middle of the court, many newspapers at his feet, calling out a newsboy chant, “Get your early morning paper!” He had once again escaped, climbed the back porches and collected all the papers that had been delivered and was hawking them.
Arn developed into a witty, warm excellent student who was double-promoted several times in the Chicago school system. He was talented in both science and language. We met at the University of Michigan just before he went on to attend law school at Northwestern. He was a talented raconteur of stories and jokes with a large repertoire. Tension over finals eased, I was distracted and charmed.
Arnold was a strong man. He had firm and well-thought out opinions and views of life. A calm and trusted attorney, his clients relied on his well-researched and reliable opinions. His special love and area of expertise was real estate. His retirement from the practice of law was deferred for two years while he dealt with two upsetting cases affecting some needy clients. Retired at 82, clients were still calling for advice two years later.
Arn had many interests. His adventurous side enjoyed scuba diving, hiking, and sailing our 16 foot Hobie Cat, especially out on a trapeze rig, “Exerting tremendous force on the mast”. He loved his scuba trips with son, Andy and Regatta adventures with daughter, Paula. His most special talent was with words: puns, relating of jokes and stories, puzzles. He was a wonderful scrabble player, aggressive and highly competitive. Arn joined a serious local Scrabble group and loved competing. I think his most special talent was with languages. He took a few years of Latin in high school, one year of conversational Spanish in college, and could still speak Spanish well enough to be complimented whenever we traveled to a Spanish speaking locale (albeit only in the present tense). His pronunciation and vocabulary recall were excellent. Arn later went on to study Spanish in New Trier Extension classed and finally learned all the various tenses and nuances. He loved it. And his long-time teacher at New Trier adored him.
When we traveled in Greece, he picked up the alphabet and started sounding out words. In Italy he could see the similarities between Spanish and Italian and started to attempt to speak. In France he got into some trouble but the natives all laughed. I remember the time he asked me the name for the toilet in French. He marched up to the server in a patisserie, somehow, where is the toilet, “Ou est la toilette?” came out “Vous est la toilette”? (Vous is where in German). The woman laughed, came out from behind the counter, took him by the hand opened the door, pushed him in and slammed the door. I was amazed. He had just called her a toilet and the French are known for their snotty attitude about their language.
Arn participated in two treks in New Zealand: the Milford and the Routeburn. He adored both and they provided so many happy memories and new audiences for his stories. We were fortunate to travel extensively in our early years of marriage through our 70’s. We loved recalling our trips with each other, friends and family. So many shared journeys to treasure.
Arn participated in our Glencoe community by serving on the Park District Board and as Park Board president. He served on a committee that ran Camp Michigania, the Alumni Family Camp of the University of Michigan. Our family spent over 20 years at that camp. That’s where we all learned to sail.
One of Arn’s life-long interests was coins. He loved the history of the various strikes and the sculptors who designed them. He had amassed an impressive collection of American Standing Liberty quarters. He and a friend were admitted to the private collection at the Smithsonian. The curator at the time was a distant grandson of Dr Samuel Mudd, of the Lincoln assassination era (Always another story).
Another favorite hobby was golf. Arn was active in two senior leagues at Sportsman Golf Course in Northbrook and could play through last Fall. He and his buddy Al Schoeneman had such fun scouting for prizes and awards for the league. They both loved competing within the league and each other. He so hoped for another year.
We started our family when Arn was 24. He was a caring, loving father, who played easily with our two children, eager to share his interests and hobbies. Golf, sailing, traveling, music, were a few. He was so proud of Andy’s legal career, and Paula’s musical abilities. Competition over making puns and word games was fierce and there was always a jigsaw puzzle in the works on a table in our home. We felt so successful as parents: our kids are loving and kind strivers. They, as well as their spouses, Pam and Marc, have been supportive the last several years.
Our four grandchildren have been special: supplying love and fun in our lives. Arn enjoyed their development as individuals; shared trips, visits to museums, teaching them to play golf. He could practice his love of schtick like the jellybean guessing contest. We spent hours tracking down new flavors to stump our contestants. They evolved into his whole office and some of their relatives. It went on and on until jalapeno jellybeans almost resulted in Arn’s early demise. Ask any of our grands about the shower song: they will either laugh or sing it for you.
And then there were our dogs! Nine of them during our 63 years of marriage. Arn adored them: cosseted and played with them and they in turn tickled him and encouraged his desire for fun. Our latest animal, a four- year-old silver standard poodle, named Gulliver, was Arn’s all-time favorite. I finally figured out why: the two soulmates, both willful and adventurous, were a perfect match.
How do you measure a life? By good works and benevolence, by career accomplishments, by good and loving nature, or by role as caretaker? Arnold was a witty, eloquent, vibrant, kind, generous and loving person. He could be crusty at times and perhaps a bit judgmental but was usually smiling (often at his own jokes). As Arn aged, he seemed to push his boundaries of experience: learning to sail in his 30’s; scuba diving in his 40’s to 60’s; hiking treks and zip lining in his 60’s. Some of us get more careful as we grow older. He never lost the zest for entertaining and telling a good story. He wanted to continue to travel and see the world. He will be missed.
To continue his legacy and to remember him alive and vibrant, we are collecting his stories and jokes, puns, and some of his schtick. His family was often his best audience. Even in unpleasant circumstances, he could always make me laugh. I hope that his memory will bring a smile to your face.
Judith Schwartz
April 15, 2023