Obituary: Marvin M. Rosenberg, 91, of Coldwater

Marvin Rosenberg

Marvin M. Rosenberg, 93, died Monday, June 17 at Borgess Hospital with his team of loved ones by his side.

Marvin was born on October 10, 1931, in Coldwater to parents Philip and Sarah Rosenberg.  He grew up on the south side of Coldwater, attending Lincoln School for elementary and junior high, and the old Coldwater High School, graduating with the class of 1949.  At CHS, Marvin was an enthusiastic participant in athletics, including being a member of the 1949 Twin Valley Football Championship team. He also earned state honors for football, was on the 1949 Class B state basketball championship team, and the 1949 Twin Valley championship baseball team.  Marvin’s youthful participation in sports earned him a spot in the Coldwater High School Athletic Hall of Fame.  The 1949 champion basketball team and their coach, Floyd Eby, were the first team selected by the Michigan High School Athletic Association as one of the “Legends of the Games.”

After high school Marvin attended Michigan State University, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in business.  He was a member of the ROTC and entered the Army after college, achieving the rank of first lieutenant in the Army Reserve Artillery unit.  An assignment working with radar and artillery along the shores of Lake Michigan, at Camp Claybanks outside of the town of Montague had a significant impact on Marvin’s life.  It facilitated him meeting a red-headed school librarian named Phyllis, who had just returned from teaching in Japan on a U.S. Army base.  After a long distance courtship, they married and moved back to Coldwater, where Marvin took over the family scrap business, Rosenberg Iron and Metal.  Later branching out into structural steel, the business was renamed Phillips Steel Company.

Marvin and his brother Sam were pioneers in the scrap metal business, developing new ways to sort and transport trash and scrap metal, including roll off truck innovations and separating metals from nonmetals.  Marvin later ran Tri-State Industrial Services on Race Street which became the focus of the scrap and waste hauling.

Community participation was a key value for Marvin, and he actively supported the pursuits of his wife and children and other folks he mentored.  Marvin served for several years with the Jaycees, including one year as president.  He was part of the effort to create the Jaycee Park off of Riverside Road  in Coldwater.

Marvin’s hobbies included flying and, later, sailing.  He was a member of the Flying Club and volunteered for over 50 years at the Coldwater Fly In.  He and his friends took a memorable flying trip along the rugged Baja Peninsula in the late 1970s, and they flew over pods of whales and many other interesting towns and natural areas around the small airports they visited.

Always a lover of being out on the water, Marvin started out pontooning on Archer Lake, then learned sailing with a 24 foot Venture sailboat on Coldwater Lake. Marv moved up to a 32 foot Hunter sailboat, which he and friends sailed on Lake Michigan out of South Haven.  Later, he and Phyllis bought a place on White Lake and enjoyed many years there with family and friends.

Marvin played a key role in early efforts to preserve the Tibbits Opera House and continued to support the developments there as they evolved, including strong support for children’s theater.  Marvin also worked on the Clock Tower Committee, playing a key role in restoring the clock from Coldwater’s old historical courthouse, and placing it in a tower honoring the one it had been housed in originally.  His knowledge of metal fabricating contributed to finalizing the cupola.

Marvin is survived by his daughter Laurie Rosenberg (husband Jeff Dostal) and son Wesley Rosenberg, and an extended family of cousins, nieces and nephews and the Smith family of his godson Bill.

He was preceded in death by his beloved wife Phyllis and his siblings Belle, Sam, Vivyan (Francis), and Evelyn.

Honoring donations may be made to the Branch County Community Foundation’s Forever Fund or the Tibbits Opera House or the Coldwater Branch of the Branch District Library.

A Memorial Celebration of Life for Marvin will be held on Saturday, July 13, 2024, at 11 a.m. at Dutcher Funeral Home in Coldwater. Visitation will begin at 10 a.m., prior to the service, at Dutcher Funeral Home in Coldwater. www.dutcherfh.com.