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Irv Schwartz with granddaughter Kathryn and wife Jeannie (Photo credit: Cindy Marselis-Lundeen)<\/p>\n Irv Schwartz with granddaughter Kathryn and wife Jeannie (Photo credit: Cindy Marselis-Lundeen)<\/p>\n
The women in Fox Chase used to say that if you sat in Irv Schwartz\u2019s chair long enough, you\u2019d walk out looking better and feeling lighter. At Curl Cage Beauty Salon \u2014 the neighborhood shop he ran for 48 years \u2014 customers found more than a hairstylist. They found a listener, a storyteller and a man who made every person who walked through the door feel seen.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe just genuinely liked people,\u201d said his daughter Wendi Schwartz. \u201cHe could talk to anybody.\u201d Friends and family said that instinct to connect \u2014 rooted in the Jewish values he grew up with \u2014 shaped every part of his life.<\/p>\n
Schwartz, a beloved hairdresser, devoted family man, animal rescuer and dedicated Philadelphia sports fan, died on Nov. 12 at age 88.<\/p>\n
Born on Jan. 17, 1937, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Irwin \u201cIrv\u201d Schwartz grew up in a family that moved often. His parents, Abe and Kathryn, bought and sold a series of neighborhood stores. The constant uprooting made school difficult \u2014 compounded by undiagnosed dyslexia \u2014 but he remained anchored by a large, loving extended family.<\/p>\n
When Schwartz was 17, his parents moved to Northeast Philadelphia, where he transferred to Olney High School and met 16-year-old classmate Jeannie Greenblatt. They started dating in 1953, married in 1958 and spent 67 years together. \u201cWe were always together,\u201d Jeannie said. \u201cWe\u2019ve known each other for 72 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Schwartz began at Temple University\u2019s Tyler School of Art, hoping to become an art teacher. But eager to start earning a living, he shifted to cosmetology, a choice that blended creativity with practicality. In 1966, he opened Curl Cage Beauty Salon in Fox Chase, which quickly became a bustling neighborhood fixture. His wife worked beside him for years, and later their daughter Lisa Fritz joined them before eventually taking over.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was a very good hairstylist,\u201d Jeannie said. \u201cBut more than that, the customers loved him.\u201d He drove clients home when needed, opened the shop on Sundays for special occasions and nurtured relationships that lasted decades. Some families were with him through three generations. \u201cHe loved that shop,\u201d she said. \u201cHe loved talking to people.\u201d<\/p>\n
At home, Schwartz and his wife raised their three daughters in an atmosphere filled with conversation, humor and constant activity. From a young age, the girls spent time at the salon, washing curlers, brushes and eventually pitching in wherever they were needed. At home, he showed them how to fix things, use tools and play sports. \u201cMy father was really ahead of his time,\u201d daughter Cindy Marselis-Lundeen said. \u201cHe taught his daughters everything people thought only boys learned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Animals were woven into daily family life. Early on they had cockatiels (Australian parrots), cats and dogs; later came rescued greyhounds, including Honey, who was inseparable from Schwartz. Marselis-Lundeen now cares for 42 rescued animals on her farm outside Philadelphia and says the impulse began with her parents. \u201cThat started with my father,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Though not religiously observant, Schwartz identified deeply as a Jew. Jeannie taught Hebrew school at Congregation Beth Chaim and other schools for 35 years, and the couple emphasized Jewish values, holiday traditions and family unity. They visited cemeteries before the High Holidays, passed down stories of their ancestors and traveled twice to Israel, once driving across the country on their own. \u201cHe was a staunch cultural Jew and a rabid Zionist,\u201d Marselis-Lundeen said. \u201cIsrael was very important to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those values shaped how he treated people. He had a multicultural family, and Schwartz embraced them wholeheartedly. When Wendi Schwartz came out as gay, he welcomed her without hesitation. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t a very open time,\u201d she said. \u201cBut he accepted me immediately \u2014 and he defended me.\u201d<\/p>\n
He followed politics closely, cared deeply about fairness and believed in standing up for others. He canvassed, protested and was delighted to meet Gloria Steinem and Bill and Hillary Clinton. Marselis-Lundeen called him \u201ca social justice warrior who believed your worth was in what you did for others.\u201d<\/p>\n
He delighted in storytelling \u2014 recounting how he saw Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy campaign in Philadelphia and how he once spotted Muhammad Ali.<\/p>\n
Schwartz also filled his life with hands-on creativity. He built a four-story Victorian dollhouse for his granddaughter Samantha, wiring the tiny rooms for lights and furnishing every floor. The basement held his extensive model train layout, a hobby he began at age 10.<\/p>\n
His greatest joy was his family. He and Jeannie helped care for many of their grandchildren \u2014 Ayanna, Samantha, Chad, Dean and Katie \u2014 and doted on their great-grandchildren, Olivia, Violet, Bennett, Emilia and Miles. He took particular pride in Katie\u2019s decision to attend Tyler School of Art, following his early path as an artist.<\/p>\n
Those who knew Schwartz remember a man who made people feel valued \u2014 neighbors, customers, relatives and strangers alike. He greeted new families on the block, struck up conversations in stores and checked in regularly with people across the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was very outgoing, very kind, very gentle,\u201d Wendi Schwartz said. \u201cHe really was a mensch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ellen Braunstein is a freelance writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irv Schwartz with granddaughter Kathryn and wife Jeannie (Photo credit: Cindy Marselis-Lundeen) The women in Fox Chase used…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43403,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[25854,25855,25856,13443,3026,2252,69,71,70],"class_list":{"0":"post-43638","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-curl-cage-beauty-salon","9":"tag-fox-chase","10":"tag-irv-schwartz","11":"tag-obit","12":"tag-obituaries","13":"tag-obituary","14":"tag-philadelphia","15":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","16":"tag-philadelphia-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43638"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43638\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}