Ben Rosenberg; Special Education Teacher’s Aide

Ben Rosenberg, who began a second career at age 75 helping emotionally disturbed children, has died at a Van Nuys hospital. He was 93.

A longtime Encino resident, Rosenberg died Tuesday after a lengthy hospital stay, said his nephew, James Rosenberg.

Born in Bucharest, Rosenberg came to America as a child and was raised in Chicago. According to his son, Richard, Rosenberg began a career in sign-making and storefront repair before relocating to Los Angeles in the mid-1930s.

His first Los Angeles job was redesigning the porcelain front of the F.W. Woolworth’s store on Hollywood Boulevard. “It still looks good,” he remarked in a 1990 Times article.

In the late 1940s, Rosenberg teamed up with architect Victor Gruen--who later designed Valencia--in a store fixture business, though he left a few years later after a falling out with Gruen.

After a series of failed marriages and time spent traveling in France, Rosenberg saw his life collapse in a spiral of alcoholism during much of the next 20 years. “In 1975, I was reborn,” he said in April of this year. Realizing that he remembered little of the preceding years, the 75-year-old Rosenberg gave up alcohol and became a teacher’s aide in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

In 1984, he joined the staff of George E. Hale Junior High School as a special education aide, working with severely emotionally disturbed students. The district honored him in 1990 as its oldest paid employee.

He retired the following year, but was not forgotten. The school recognized his years of service by naming its library after him. Rosenberg himself returned as a volunteer earlier this year.

“I couldn’t leave the kids,” he said at the time.

In addition to his son, Rosenberg is survived by five grandchildren.

Services will be held Sunday at 1 p.m. at Mt. Sinai Memorial Park, 5950 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles. Mt. Sinai Mortuary is handling the arrangements.