By Pam J. Hersh
Princeton University Professor Norman Itzkowitz, who died at the age of 87 on Jan. 20, would have balked at my writing this column about him.
Even though over the years I have written about the scholarly achievements of the world-famous near Eastern scholar, Professor Itzkowitz saw no point in my writing about the human, funny, iconoclastic, unpretentious, engaging and quirky side of ‘Uncle Norm’ Itzkowitz.
In my last conversation with him before he got sick, he told me I could write about him only if the article’s information could serve some greater good. Unfortunately, or from his perspective maybe fortunately, I discovered the appropriate higher purpose – after he had died. At the shiva service last week, I talked to his granddaughter and his widow about Norman’s passion for fencing, an activity that turned out to be – for Norman – far more than a college athletic pursuit.
Fencing set him on a lifelong course of being a “mensch,” said Leonore Itzkowitz, his wife of 65 years. Out of respect for Norman, I have to clarify the “greater good.”
An article about his commitment to fencing illustrates how an extracurricular activity with the right mentor, and the right prods and pokes can make an individual a better human being dedicated to improving the lives of others.
“I knew Norman for most of his life,” said Leonore, “and can tell you that fencing and his fencing coach at City College of New York transformed Norman.”
Thanks to fencing, the smart, brash kid raised on the Lower East Side of New York went from being a passively good guy into someone who brought goodness to a new level of proactive excellence.
“Towards the end of his life, my Grandpa spoke more and more about the things he loved. The country of Turkey and fencing were two of his great loves, and they would come up again and again in his stories. He used to tell me about his fencing coach at City College of New York – Coach Montague,” said Aliya Itzkowitz, who inherited the fencing gene. Living in London and working in finance (specializing in cryptocurrency), Aliya is a world-class competitor in fencing, currently the number one ranked Women’s Saber Fencer in the United Kingdom.
Norman’s motive for taking up fencing was uninspiring – just practical, said Leonore, who met her husband when they both were students at City College. At CCNY, if a student joined an athletic team, he/she could be excused from attending the classes of the required phys ed (or “health and hygiene”) course. His passionate attachment to the sport was directly related to the fencing coach, who taught Norman lessons of character, perseverance and humanity, she said.
“The coach was distinguished, dignified and compassionate – and all that made an impression on Norman,” said Leonore, who first saw Norman in the CCNY cafeteria – when he was looking like “a real jock, with his fencing bag over his shoulder.”
The mental benefits of fencing, said Aliya, who speaks from first-hand experience, are substantial, and her grandfather was very aware of them. “You learn how to control your emotions and nerves. In fencing, one has to make split-second decisions under pressure. That’s an invaluable life skill that makes other problems you may face in life a lot less daunting.”
Aliya also noted her grandfather talked with great respect about the perseverance required to excel at fencing. “My Grandpa told me how at the end of a lesson with Montague, his arm would ache. Then, incredulously, he’d watch Montague do the same lesson all over again with the next guy on the team and then the next.”
Norman graduated from CCNY with a plan to join the Navy, but ended up at Princeton University in graduate school because Princeton offered him a little more money to become an academic rather than an admiral, said Leonore.
Even though he never pursued fencing competitively after he left CCNY for Princeton, he worked throughout his academic career with the Princeton University fencing coach to mentor students in the art, science and mental benefits of the sport. Of course, he gleefully would remind the students his first exposure to Princeton University occurred in the 1950s, when his CCNY fencing team defeated Princeton’s.
Leonore speculated her husband’s connection to fencing led to his passion for psychology that in turn led to his expertise in the psychological analysis of historic figures. Not one to rest on his laurels, Norman, in the midst of his successful scholarly career at Princeton, went back to school in New York City at the National Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis.
In addition to always seeking out new challenges academically, Norman – following the role model of his fencing coach – became increasingly involved in the on-campus life of the students at Princeton, said Leonore. He became the Master of Wilson College, one of the residential colleges where students live and take their meals.
Reiterating her comments in his obituary, Leonore recalled how “Norman loved this work and was beloved by the students, who referred to him as “Uncle Norm.” He organized regular trips to New York City to the opera, Broadway shows and sporting events. He was committed to helping students become “compete” adults. Many of his innovations became standard at the other residential colleges. He served on the Committee on Undergraduate Life (CURL), which radically re-organized undergraduate life at Princeton by bringing in the residential college system.
In high school, Aliya spent two summers in Princeton with her grandparents and attended two Princeton University summer fencing camps.
“Fencing was something that only my Grandpa and I truly understood in the family. My Grandpa was a low-key guy, but he enjoyed hearing about my fencing trips to various corners of the globe,” she said. “Whenever I would call, he would ask me how it was going and when my next tournament was. Whenever I was about to say goodbye, he would say the same thing: ‘Give ‘em hell, kid!’ That was his way of saying, ‘good luck.'”
For Norman Itzkowitz, fencing was an excellent vehicle for building relationships – not fences – within his family, the Princeton University community and throughout the world.
