SMC Emeritus Honors Jerry Rosenblum
Santa Monica College (SMC) Emeritus student Jerry Rosenblum and Associate Dean of Emeritus Dr. Scott Silverman on April 20th, 2021. Photo by Professor Sheila Laffey | Courtesy of the SMC Emeritus Program
Jerry Rosenblum, a longtime Santa Monica College (SMC) Emeritus student, lives a busy and inspiring life from managing a prestigious men's clothing store to performing original songs for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, known by her supporters as AOC. To celebrate his work, Rosenblum was virtually honored by the Emeritus Program on April 20. He also grew viral on Instagram for singing songs to American politicians such as AOC and 2016 Presidential Candidate Hilary Clinton.
Santa Monica College (SMC) Emeritus student, Jerry Rosenblum, reads passages from his autobiography book, "An Angel on My Shoulder," during his honorable ceremony on April 20, 2021 via Zoom. Courtesy of Jack Neworth from the Santa Monica Daily Press.
The program caters to the older adult population at SMC and has been serving students since 1975. They annually support over 3,000 students and offer a minimum of 120 free classes of interest to older adults.
Rosenblum was honored because the Emeritus community wanted to give him a proper send-off by commemorating his contributions and bright personality.
He moved to Florida in April 2021 and returned to Santa Monica, Calif. in July 2021. "I like to be amongst the younger people rather than [be] cooped up with a lot of old people, which is [where] I am now," he said. "I realized that I was enjoying myself [in Santa Monica]... there's a lot of things that I have to do once I get the green light."
Dr. Scott Silverman, Interim Dean of Noncredit and External Programs and Associate Dean of Emeritus, met Rosenblum years ago and complimented him as an amazing person to be around. "I'm drawn to him because... he sort of reminds me [of] my own grandfather in some respects... in terms of careers and experiences [they had]," said Silverman. "So that's why I was drawn to get to know Jerry really well. Tons of people [are] drawn to him... he just has a personality that brings people together."
Currently, Rosenblum has over 21,000 followers on Instagram thanks to the help of Katie Miller, the manager of his account. Despite initially needing her help to use the programs on his laptop, he ended up receiving a lot of assistance on social media. "[Miller] found out that I take some singing classes... She recorded a couple of songs that I [sang]... before I knew it, I have a following on Instagram," Rosenblum said. "The fact that Hillary Clinton was campaigning [back in 2016], I was asked to write a song for her. So I take an old melody from an MGM movie and put my own words to it... [someone played] piano for me while I [sang]... Hillary heard the song and sent me a letter of appreciation."
Miller gave the suggestion to Rosenblum to write the song, which he composed and mailed to Clinton's campaign team in 2016 before it grew to popularity on social media. Then in May 2019, Miller encouraged Rosenblum to write a song for AOC. Her response to his song was kind and heartwarming as AOC has been well-aware of his ongoing support for a while now.
Dr. Silverman hopes the younger groups of incoming SMC students get the chance to listen to stories about Rosenblum and learn something from them.
Visit the SMC Emeritus page to watch "A Tribute to Jerry Rosenblum" and follow Rosenblum on Instagram at @jerry_rosenblum.
