Daniel Norman Engelhardt, 77, of Carmel, New York, died on April 20 in his home after a three-month valiant battle with cancer. He was born in Brooklyn on October 26, 1947, to Beatrice Pass Engelhardt and Jack Engelhardt, humanists, intellects, and teachers who were proud Union members. He had two sisters, Helen, 8-years older, and Alice, older by only four months, adopted when she was a newborn. Dan’s second family included his mother’s twin sister, Roz Derman, her husband Dave and three children, Bill, Judy, and Laura who shared their two-family home.
A gifted student, Dan graduated from Lincoln High School and Stoney Brook University, earned a full scholarship to the Darlcroze School of Music in jazz composition and went on to earn degrees and certifications in education, horticulture, and finance. 60 years later his high school calculus teacher still remembers him as one of her best students. But from the age of seven, piano was Dan’s passion. As a child he had to be pried from the practice bench and convinced to play outside. At eight Dan was accepted by the famed piano teacher Rose Corigliano, whose husband was concertmaster of the NY Philharmonic, and whose son John went on to compose the film score for “The Red Violin.” A natural athlete, Dan pitched in Little League, became an avid lifelong tennis player (his earliest teacher was his mother), and, at 77, was playing some of his best tennis at the Sedgewood Club, Carmel Hamlet, NY two months before illness sidelined him.
From the age of eight through his teens Dan spent summers at Camp Hurley outside Kingston, New York, an interracial, progressive summer camp where Dan discovered his love of nature, forming deep lifelong friendships that widened his view of the world.
One of his proudest accomplishments, however, came in his junior year of high school when Mad Magazine published a short piece he submitted, written in the style of his hero, Alfred E. Newman.
Until he was in his forties Dan dismissed his musical gifts, playing bass guitar in a rock band, developing a business as a piano tuner (for Eubie Blake and Town Hall), teaching gardening and music at the Green Chimneys School in Putnam Lakes, NY, a job and a community he cherished. Then one morning he woke up with music pouring out of him. Dan went on to compose and record 60 original songs produced by Grammy-Award winning John Lissauer in his Katonah Mills Studio. At the same time, Dan began a new career in finance working as Compliance Officer in the insurance industry where his creativity, kindness, and smarts helped hundreds navigate the complicated world of financial regulation.
At 55, when Dan and his then-partner adopted Flora (at the age of six months) he became a dedicated father, sharing his nurturing spirit, love of nature, learning and sports, and his off-the-wall sense of humor.
Dan leaves his beloved partner, Jackie Parker; his adored daughter, Florencia Tupler; his new (tennis-playing) sons, Jonathan and Brandon (Andrea Reynoso) Parker, and four-month old Milo. His devoted sister and nephew, Helen Engelhardt and Alan Hawkins; his wonderful niece Tamara Mann and her daughters Ayelet LeBlanc and Zoe Kovacs (Peter) and their daughter Fena; his cousins/siblings: William Derman (Ann); Judy Berger ( Alan); Laura Derman (Lee Teitel); his nieces and nephews: Michelle, Elizabeth, Moon, Emma, Becky, Noah, and Brandon and their spouses and children. And the many friends and colleagues who cherish Dan who are holding him in their hearts.
In lieu of flowers, please consider contributing to the Hurley Camp Fund www.hurleycampfund.org
Mailing address PO Box 3033, Lisle IL., 60532
Funeral Services: Thursday, April 24, at 11 a.m.
Beecher Funeral Home
1 Putnam Avenue
Brewster, NY 10509
