Norma S. Goldberg, known affectionately as Norm, Normie, Honey, and one half of the yente thugs, passed away peacefully on August 7th, 2024. She was born on December 18th, 1929, to immigrant parents in a small shtetl known as the Bronx. The youngest of three, her sister Silvya trained her in rabble rousing, dragging her around to protests and political events. As a child she began her lifelong passion for dance, taking the subway to as many classes as she could. After high school she worked during the day and attended Hunter College at night, making it through school in seven years by taking one class a semester. She would go on to enthusiastically preach this strategy to her children and grandchildren.

She met her husband Leon Goldberg at a square dance, and they married in 1952. As the story goes, upon hearing he was a physicist, her mother ran to Joe the grocer who said, “A physicist is even better than a doctor!” To affirm his physics credentials (and love) he is rumored to have attached a battery to some wires so she would literally feel sparks when they first kissed. Together they had four children: Jonathan, Pam, Richard, Sara, and a rotating cast of animals. She instilled in them her love of dance, music, art, and education.

She parlayed her dance background into a job. She became Recreational Director at Lakeland Hospital where she worked as a dance movement therapist, working with all ages. She firmly believed that everyone has creativity in them, and everyone should be dancing. In 1993, she earned her MSW from Rutgers University Camden. Ever persuasive she convinced Hahnemann University Hospital that they needed a dance therapy program and became an adjunct professor and student advisor for eager young dance therapists. She also formed a private social work practice with her friends Phyllis Black, Barbra Hopkins, and Harriet Nelson.

In the year 2000 the county of Camden honored her for her work with the Cultural and Heritage Commission. As Vice Chair of the Commission, she created the idea of the Camden County Arts 4 Teens festival and the Arts in the Community program.

As she got older, she managed to move a lifetime of collected art and Albert Einstein paraphernalia from her house in Cherry Hill to a two-bedroom apartment in South Orange. She loved her apartment so much she had her grandchildren break her out of the hospital in 2023 just to spend the night at home.

For her 80th birthday she started a new tradition of a yearly family talent show which she loved presiding over. One year she even starred in an elaborate “Hello Dolly” parody entitled “Hello Normie”, complete with costumes and choreographed dancing.

Norma was known for her strong opinions and many bits of wisdom: slowness is beauty, move your body, better late than on time, always lick your bowl, and sleep in the nude. She loved ice cream and her family. She is survived by her four children Jonathan, Pam, Richard, and Sara, seven grandchildren and two great grandchildren.

She had lots of stories and told them lots of times. Her family loved them all.

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