Nan Debuskey Rosenthal was known for her energy and her ability to connect with people. When she entered a room, others noticed — drawn by her smile, her warmth and her ease with people.
“She would walk into a room and everybody would turn to look at her,” said her daughter, Connie Rosenthal Berman. “She just captured everyone with her personality, her big smile, her grace and her beauty.”
Rosenthal, a Baltimore arts advocate, development professional and longtime volunteer in the Jewish and wider community, died on Nov. 11. She was 88.
Born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Rosenthal later moved to Baltimore, where she attended Forest Park High School and met her future husband, Richard Rosenthal. Nan went on to attend the University of Maryland, where she majored in education. She and Richard married after college and were divorced 23 years later, remaining good friends.
From an early age, dance and performance were central to Rosenthal’s life. She studied ballet, jazz, modern dance and tap and continued dancing well into her 50s.
Her early exposure to the arts came in part through her family. Her mother, Margaret Hayes, was a movie actress who appeared in the culturally significant film “Blackboard Jungle,” featuring Sidney Poitier in one of his earliest roles. Rosenthal admired her mother’s work in entertainment and remained drawn to the performing arts throughout her life.
“She was always dancing,” Berman said. “Dance was just part of who she was.”
Rosenthal began her professional life as a schoolteacher. After marrying and having two daughters, she stepped away from teaching but remained active through volunteer work.
While raising her children, she became involved with the Women’s Auxiliary at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore, eventually becoming its youngest president.
During her time with the auxiliary, she helped organize shows and events, work that allowed her to combine creativity, leadership and fundraising. From there, she transitioned into a career in public relations, development and event planning.
From 1997 to 2003, she served as vice president of development at MedStar Harbor Hospital, where she oversaw special events, fundraising initiatives, corporate solicitation, annual giving and planned giving.
Rosenthal also worked at the Edward A. Myerberg Center, a Jewish-sponsored senior center, where she coordinated annual fundraising efforts and celebrity events. Those programs regularly sold out and featured nationally recognized performers, including Henry Winkler and Ben Vereen.
“That was her favorite part,” said her daughter, Ruth Parnes. “Meeting people, making connections and knowing she was doing good.”
She also worked with Concert Artists of Baltimore and held additional roles in arts-related organizations that focused on outreach and community engagement.
Colleagues described Rosenthal as upbeat, collaborative and dependable.
“She was easy to work with,” Parnes said. “She stayed in touch with colleagues from the past and formed relationships that lasted.”
That same ability to connect with people shaped her volunteer work. Over decades, Rosenthal served on committees and boards for a wide range of cultural, health and social service organizations, often helping recruit and organize volunteers.
“She had an army of volunteers,” Berman said. “People were happy to help her, no matter what the job was.”
Her volunteer service included work with the Elijah Cummings Youth Program, where she interviewed students from under-served neighborhoods who were selected for educational trips to Israel. She volunteered with the Baltimore School for the Arts Auxiliary, the Jewish Community Center of Greater Baltimore, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Children’s Guild, the Chesapeake AIDS Foundation, Health Care for the Homeless, LifeSongs for AIDS and the Greater Baltimore Cultural Arts Foundation. She also served on Baltimore’s mayoral advisory committee on arts and culture and was involved with arts programming for the JCC Maccabi Games.
Rosenthal’s commitment to arts education reached a broader audience through public television. In the late 1970s, she wrote and produced “Hocus Focus,” a weekly children’s television program that aired on WBAL. The show featured local theater groups, dancers and performers presenting excerpts of productions in front of live audiences of children. Rosenthal also wrote the program’s theme song.
“She wanted children to be exposed to the arts,” Parnes said. “She believed everyone should have that opportunity.”
In 2007, Rosenthal became the first recipient of the Audrey Herman Award from Spotlighters Theatre, honoring her passion and support for theater and the arts in Baltimore. She received numerous other awards for her community leadership.
Marc Steiner, executive producer at Baltimore public radio station WJHU, praised Rosenthal’s effectiveness and warmth.
“Her commitment to the arts, to the community, to children and to charitable events is unparalleled,” Steiner wrote in a letter nominating her for a women’s award in 2001. “Who else can dance, sing, pull off a million-dollar event, balance a budget and keep the most disgruntled parties happily working together?”
Judaism was a consistent presence in Rosenthal’s life. Her daughters recalled Friday nights spent picking up their great-grandmother from Sinai Hospital, where she volunteered weekly, and returning home for Shabbat dinner.
“We would light the candles, say the prayers and have challah. It was time together as a family,” said Parnes, whose family attended Chizuk Amuno Congregation, going back generations.
Rosenthal worked as a preschool teacher at the Jewish Community Center and later volunteered there in leadership roles such as co-chairing gala events.
Rosenthal never fully retired. She continued helping organize events and supporting organizations until the COVID-19 pandemic.
That drive was always apparent. “Her energy just radiated,” Berman said. “It was infectious. People mirrored it and wanted to be part of whatever she was doing.”
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.
