Deceased January 10, 2020
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In Memory
Marvin “Moose” Newman passed away peacefully at the age of 94 on Jan. 10, 2020, at Norwalk Hospital. His lifelong optimism and welcoming smile will forever be missed. The son of Simon and Lillian (Levy) Newman, Marvin was born Aug. 31, 1925, the youngest son of five children. In 1942, he graduated from Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn and started classes at Amherst College. His attendance at that point was brief because he immediately joined the U.S. Navy in October of 1942. The navy (V-12) sent him, along with 99 other Amherst men, to Williams. He served four years, becoming a quartermaster on an LST. On the LST, his superior officer was none other than classmate Bill Gazeley ’46. His wartime travels would take him to Guam, the Philippines, the Marshall Islands, Okinawa and ultimately Tokyo Bay at the end of the war. He earned the Asiatic Pacific Medal and the WWII Victory Medal. In his later years, he often spoke to middle schoolers about his naval experiences and had done so on Veteran’s Day 2019.
Upon naval discharge, he returned to Amherst and earned a B.A. in economics.
In 1953, living in Manhattan, Marvin married Frances Karpas, who survives him along with their children, Pamela Newman Pooley (Eric) of North Salem, N.Y., and Bruce Newman (Meredith) of Old Saybrook, Conn. He had five grandchildren and always remembered their birthdays.
In the 1950s and early 1960s, he was an account executive at the advertising firm BBD&O in New York City, then worked as a marketing consultant. In 1970 he entered the health and life insurance business. He began with New York Life and Met Life and would ultimately run his own agency until the age of 90.
Marvin lived in Greenwich, Conn., from 1966 to 1993, at which time his marriage ended in a divorce. He then moved to New Canaan and became active in the senior men’s club, helping to launch their amateur chefs group. He enjoyed playing bridge and paddle tennis into his mid-80s. Vital until the end of his life, and a friend to virtually all his Amherst classmates and many in the Schoolhouse Apartments where he lived since 2010, he suffered a fatal stroke there while preparing for his weekly Tai Chi class. A memorial gathering was held at the Schoolhouse Apartments in New Canaan, Conn.
Dick Banfield ’46