Cyndi Loza

Ina Wolf Rosenblatt: 1910-2007

From studying under famous international composers to overseeing music programs in Indiana and Illinois, Skokie resident Ina Wolf Rosenblatt always surrounded her life with music.

Before the age of 21, Mrs. Rosenblatt had already played violin professionally as a soloist with an ensemble for three years and the Women’s Chicago Symphony Orchestra for three seasons.

Mrs. Rosenblatt’s passion and music expertise were also spread to youth through her influence as a director of music for public schools in Chicago, Cicero and Michigan City, Ind.

“She was just always trying to express the wonders of life — that you just need to find the beauty in life and do what makes you happy,” said nephew David Lamm.

Mrs. Rosenblatt died of heart failure in her Skokie home July 14. She was 96.

She was described by her family and friends as a very tough, strong-willed person who loved life.

“She looked forward to death just as she looked forward to life,” said Thomas J. McElligott, a friend of Mrs. Rosenblatt’s.

Born in Chicago in 1910, Mrs. Rosenblatt graduated from Northwestern University with a master’s degree in music.

Her studies in music, however, were not finished. In 1938, she attended L’Ecole des Beaux Arts in Fontainebleau, France, where she studied under famous French composer Nadia Boulanger. But her stay in France was cut short after Germany invaded France in 1939.

Upon returning to Chicago, she became the director of instrumental music for Cicero public schools. She also met and married her husband, Peter Rosenblatt, who died in 1991.

Mrs. Rosenblatt soon moved on to teach and become the director of orchestra and instrumental music within the Chicago Public Schools.

After retiring in 1975, Mrs. Rosenblatt volunteered at the Jewish community center in Skokie, teaching piano, well into the late 1980s.

Since that time, she has published two books of poetry, which Lamm described as expressing “her love of life and her general attitude that life was worth living.”

Besides Lamm, survivors include three other nephews.

Services have been held.