Family and friends are remembering the resiliency and leadership of Babette “Babs” Rosenthal, who overcame tremendous tragedy yet persevered to raise four children while becoming an active and respected member of the Lake Bluff community. Rosenthal, 84, died Nov. 19th of ovarian cancer.
“Her life was really good. It was not always easy, obviously, but she lived a very good life,” said her son, former Chicago Tribune columnist Phil Rosenthal.
Born and initially raised on Chicago’s South Side, Rosenthal showed leadership even as a young girl, her brother, Lee Hess recalled. While looking through his baby book, he found information on his first birthday party — organized by Babs when she was only seven as their parents were out of town.
“Obviously someone must have been staying with us, but she took full responsibility for it,” he said.
The family later moved to Glencoe, and Babs participated in synchronized swimming at New Trier High School, where actress Ann-Margret was a classmate. After graduating in 1959, she attended the women-only Pembroke College (later merged into Brown University) and then earned a degree in child development from the University of Chicago. During that time, she met Martin Rosenthal on a double date.
They married in December 1961 and, after six years on Chicago’s South Side, they settled in Lake Bluff, drawn by its similarity to their North Shore roots. They had four children and quickly became active in their adopted community. Martin joined the Lake Bluff Baseball Association and served on the District 65 school board, while Babs held various civic roles, eventually being elected village clerk.
“She was an extremely competent, interested and involved mother and citizen,” said former Lake Bluff Village President Kathy O’Hara, who taught the Rosenthal children.
Babs was also active in the Lake Bluff chapter of the League of Women Voters. “She was very good at running meetings — definitely a leader,” added Ann Grant, her predecessor in the role.
However, her life changed forever on a cold December 1976 evening when a drunk driver struck the car carrying the Rosenthals and their friends, Norman and Nancy Ellett, as they headed home from dinner from a Lake County restaurant. All three others were killed, including her husband. (A field in Artesian Park was later named in Martin Rosenthal’s honor.)
After roughly two weeks in the hospital, Babs returned home to care for her four children, who ranged in age from 2 to 13. “She never showed her emotions,” her brother, Hess said. “She powered through it. She stayed very focused on making sure the boys were taken care of and everything was done right.”
Phil Rosenthal echoed that sentiment: “She immediately felt the responsibility of raising us was going to be preeminent. ‘I have to pull it together for them.’”
While raising her family, Babs earned a law degree from DePaul University. She went on to do mediation and arbitration work and served on the board of directors of Lake Forest Bank & Trust. She continued her public service as an elected member of the Lake Forest High School board and as a Shields Township trustee.
“It was very important for her to do what you could when you could,” Phil said of her public service. “You’re in a community, and you do what you can for that community.”
She remained in her Moffett Road home until 2003, then moved to Northfield, where she later joined the board of the North Shore Senior Center. There she applied her business expertise and became particularly active in strengthening the center’s early memory-loss program.
“She had a presence. She was small but mighty,” said the center’s executive director, Tish Rudnicki. “When she spoke, people listened.”
Her hobbies included Pilates, visiting the Chicago Botanic Garden, playing cards, attending the symphony, and extensive travel. “There were few parts of the world she didn’t get to at some point,” Phil said. “Her passport had a lot of stamps in it.”
After her cancer diagnosis, Rosenthal maintained a philosophical outlook, telling friends and family she didn’t have anything left on her bucket list. “She felt she had done everything she wanted to do,” Phil Rosenthal said. “She had seen what she needed to see.”
She is survived by her sons Phil (Jennie), Martin (Robyn Newman), Samuel (Jacqueline), and Robert; her brother Lee Hess; her sister-in-law, Louise Glasser; and five grandchildren. She was also preceded in death by her longtime companions Myron Halperin and Richard Rosenzweig.
The family is considering plans for a memorial event at a later date.
Daniel I. Dorfman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.