January 1, 2019

Stuart Rosenfield

Stuart Rosenfield's family came from Russia and Lithuania, arriving in the United States in the early 1900s and settling in Philadelphia. He recounts how the family name became Rosenfield when an immigration official, unable to understand his grandfather, took his grandmother's maiden name, Rosenberg, and rendered it as Rosenfield. His parents, Martin and Sylvia, were both born in Philadelphia and met while working at Pep Boys, where his father worked for one of the founders and his mother worked in the secretarial pool. They married in 1951, and when Pep Boys expanded to Texas, Stuart's father became the first buyer to move south.

The family arrived in Dallas in 1961, when Stuart was ten months old, along with his older sister. They quickly became involved in the Jewish community through Congregation Shearith Israel, where Stuart was later bar mitzvahed and married. Growing up in the WT White and later Hillcrest High School areas, he was deeply involved in JCC baseball and sports, BBYO as a leader in Brandeis AZA, and Boy Scouts, becoming an Eagle Scout in a troop out of Temple Emanu-El. He played violin from second grade through high school. He attended the University of Texas at Austin, joined AEPi, and took part in numerous leadership organizations before earning a degree in computer science.

After college, Stuart began his career at Northern Telecom and went on to spend more than thirty-five years in telecommunications product management and marketing, including launching the product marketing group at Ericsson North America and adding lasting product lines at other companies. He met his wife, Andy, through a Jewish singles group at an ice skating event while both were pursuing MBAs at the University of Dallas; they married in 1985 and raised three sons, Adam, Evan, and Daniel. A founding member of Congregation Anshai Torah, he served as men's club president and executive vice president and helped found its acapella group. He also became a soccer referee, a Plano diversity committee member, and eventually President of the Dallas Jewish Historical Society. He reflects that life is a journey requiring adaptability, and takes pride in making a lasting difference in every organization he joins.

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