George J. Rosenshein, a longtime pharmacist and businessman in Middlesex, N.J., died Friday, Feb. 11, at Inova Fairfax Hospital after suffering a stroke. He had lived in Bound Brook, N.J., for 50 years before moving to Reston, two years ago. He was 81.
A native of Perth Amboy, N.J., and a graduate of Perth Amboy High School, Rosenshein served in World War II with the U.S. Army in Europe.
After the war, Rosenshein began training as a pharmacist and graduated from the Brooklyn College of Pharmacy, now part of Long Island University. While working as a pharmacy assistant in Manasquan, N.J., during a college summer, Rosenshein met his wife, the former Katherine Krausz of South River, when she brought in a roll of film to be developed.
Rosenshein opened Middlesex Borough Pharmacy in 1955 and the store became a longtime institution and one of the area’s last privately owned and operated pharmacies when he sold it 40 years later to CVS.
Rosenshein regularly sponsored local Little League baseball teams. In the days before credit cards became ubiquitous and private and federal health insurance became pervasive, Rosenshein frequently allowed customers to charge purchases on their personal accounts and often gave necessary prescriptions to the needy without charge. It was not unusual for him fill and deliver prescriptions in the middle of the night to the seriously ill. He was a member of the Lions Club, the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce, New Jersey Pharmaceutical Association and Congregation Knesseth Israel.
In addition to his wife Katherine, Rosenshein is survived by his three children, Janet R. Lipman of Falls Church, Va.; Lawrence G. Rosenshein of Upper Montclair, N.J.; and Nancy R. Crotty of Reston, Va.; six grandchildren and three sisters, Edna Bregman of Hamilton, Mass.; Belle Doctofsky of Fairfield, Conn.; and Henrietta Herbert of Perth Amboy, N.J.
Rosenshein was buried Monday, Feb. 14, at King David Memorial Gardens, Falls Church. The family requests that contributions be made to the American Heart Association.