Norman Ira Gelman, a longtime Montgomery County political activist, policy analyst, writer and Jewish community leader who spent decades involved in public affairs in the Washington area, died July 20. He was 97.
Gelman’s career ranged from journalism and congressional work to foreign policy analysis, while his civic life included leadership roles in Democratic politics, the American Jewish Committee, Congregation Har Shalom and organizations advocating for Israeli-Palestinian peaceful coexistence.
Judy Gelman said Judaism was “a source of his values.” Her sister, Sharon Gelman, said his childhood gave him “confidence in who he was.”
Gelman was born March 20, 1929, in Washington, Pennsylvania, and grew up largely in Squirrel Hill in Pittsburgh, surrounded by Jewish relatives. His daughters said the neighborhood was so overwhelmingly Jewish that antisemitism was almost outside his childhood experience.
“He said he actually didn’t know anyone who wasn’t Jewish,” Judy Gelman said.
His father, Jerome, was a pharmacist who later became an executive with the company that became Samsonite. The job took his wife, Emma, and the family to San Francisco, where Gelman would graduate from high school.
Sharon Gelman said he thrived there, graduating at the top of his class and working as a copyboy and intern at the San Francisco Examiner. She said the job helped cement his lifelong interest in journalism and freedom of the press throughout his adult life.
“He absolutely loved it,” Sharon Gelman said of his work at the newspaper.
Gelman briefly attended the University of California, Berkeley, but transferred to the University of Colorado Boulder, where he entered the honors program. There he met Esther Paper. They married and remained together for 65 years, until her death in 2016.
At Colorado, Gelman became editor-in-chief of the student newspaper during the Red Scare. Judy Gelman said the paper took a strong stand for academic freedom when professors were accused of communist ties.
After college and graduate work, Gelman served in the Army at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal.
He then worked at the St. Petersburg Times as a reporter and editorial writer. A congressional fellowship brought him and his family to Washington in the late 1950s. He later worked on John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, on the Senate Commerce Committee and at Congressional Quarterly.
Gelman eventually joined Newmyer Associates, where he analyzed political and foreign policy trends for major corporations. Judy Gelman emphasized that he was not a lobbyist. He advised companies on policy, particularly international trade, and strongly supported free trade. He also made a point of mentoring young women.
“He believed that women could do what men could do and that they needed the opportunities,” Judy Gelman said.
Gelman and his wife, Esther, became deeply involved in Montgomery County Democratic politics. Judy Gelman said they were part of a newer generation that challenged a segregationist political establishment. Her father served on the Democratic Central Committee and became a longtime adviser in county politics.
Judy Gelman said her parents were early supporters and advisers to future U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen and U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, as well as Maryland Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller. She described the couple as “kind of kingmakers” among local political figures.
Her parents were political partners with different strengths, Judy Gelman said. A family joke held that Norman handled foreign policy, Esther handled Montgomery County and they “shared the United States.” Esther was the more gregarious political figure; Norman was the quieter policy thinker.
Gelman was involved with the American Jewish Committee, serving as president of its Washington chapter and on the national board. His work included strengthening ties with Jewish communities abroad and drawing U.S. policymakers’ attention to their concerns, especially those of Jews in the former Soviet Union.
He also served on the board of Congregation Har Shalom in Potomac and on the board of Americans for Peace Now and the American Jewish International Relations Institute. He became a strong supporter of a negotiated Israeli-Palestinian settlement and a two-state solution. He was a longtime supporter of the New Israel Fund. He also spent many years as a member of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation in Bethesda.
One of his greatest regrets, Judy Gelman said, was believing he would not live to see peace in Israel. Even when he was very ill, he remained engaged with Israeli politics, sometimes asking her about Knesset legislation she then had to look up.
Gelman remained intellectually active until a week before he died. He read The Economist and The New York Times, studied Islam extensively to better understand the Middle East and continued writing op-eds, essays, nonfiction and a novel. Until the final months of his life, he joined a weekly Zoom group of Montgomery County political veterans and a monthly discussion group focused on Israel and Jewish life in America.
He also loved theater, ballet and the arts, and he and Esther regularly attended performances at the Kennedy Center, Arena Stage, the Shakespeare Theatre Company and other Washington venues.
Judy Gelman described him as a devoted and involved father who believed his daughters should never be limited because they were girls.
His humor could also be elaborate. After Judy Gelman’s future husband jokingly asked how many sheep he would receive as a dowry, Gelman spent years sending the couple sheep-themed gifts and once investigated having an actual flock delivered before Esther intervened.
Asked what legacy he would have wanted, Judy Gelman did not hesitate.
“A commitment to peace and democracy and racial equality,” she said.
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance obituary writer. She welcomes suggestions for individuals who had meaningful ties to the greater Washington Jewish community. Email csix@midatlanticmedia.com.
