SETH GELBLUM ’75

SETH GELBLUM, 62, an attorney for the Broadway theater and the first attorney to receive the Tony Honor award, died Aug. 8, 2016. He was the son of Morris R. Gelblum of the class of 1943. After graduation he lived in New York and worked for several film producers before returning to school and receiving a law degree from the Georgetown University Law Center in 1982. Starting at the boutique firm of Frankfurt Garbus Klein & Selz, and ending at Loeb & Loeb LLP, he became one of the leading attorneys for the Broadway theater, representing the top ranks of actors, directors, designers, producers and investors. In 2013 he became the first attorney to be honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from New Dramatists, a leading developer of new playwrights, where he served as Board Chair for 20 years. In 2016 he became the first attorney to received a Tony Honor, given by the American Theater Wing to people working in areas not eligible for Tony Awards. In addition, he served for more than 25 years on the Board of Directors of Lawyers for Children, which provides free services to children in foster care. He was also one on the founders and Board members of the Canavan Foundation, which supported research that identified the gene that caused the disease that ended the life of his daughter, Morgan, making it possible to develop an accurate carrier test. Survivors include his wife, Orren J. Alperstein; two surviving children; two brothers, including Robert R. Gelblum ’72 and Peter B. Gelblum ’73; one sister; and a large extended family, including a niece, Olivia Alperstein ’14.