Beatrice S. Rossman, 102, of Philadelphia, longtime music teacher for the School District of Philadelphia, award-winning patron of the Curtis Institute of Music and the Astral Artists mentoring nonprofit, popular travel agent and globe-trotter, and mentor, died Saturday, Oct. 29, of cardiovascular disease at the Hearth at Drexel retirement community.
“She counted out loud, made everyone join in, and the report afterward was that all 10 women were exhausted,” said the author of a story in the cruise ship’s newsletter. Her granddaughter, Alexis Rossman Madden, said: “Bea took delight in so many things from the small to the big. She was an example of how to live life.”
She visited Hong Kong, Singapore, China, Thailand, Japan, Vietnam, South America, Europe, Israel, and elsewhere, and her family has countless stories of her adventures on the high seas and beyond. “The whole world was her favorite place,” said her son Louis. The family lived in Wyncote until her husband died in 1995, and she moved to Rittenhouse Square in 1997. She made it home every night to prepare dinner and spend time with her husband and sons, and her family said in a tribute: “She was engaging, accepting, funny, intelligent, stylish and worldly.”