Ronald Bloom

Ronald J. Bloom Born: June 25, 1931 — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Passed Away: January 8, 2015 — Boulder County, Colorado Preceded in death by his parents Jerome and Ada Bloom and his cousin Marvin Blatt. Beloved husband of Helen Murphy; loving father of Eric Bloom, Karen Bloom and Lisa Bloom; proud grandfather of Ryan Bloom, Amanda Bloom, Kaitlyn Pruitt and Danny Bloom Bellomy; adoring spoiler of Dolli the dog. He loved nothing more than bragging about his wife, children and grandchildren. R.J. proudly served as a First Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War. He was fond of saying, “Once a Marine, always a Marine.” As a child, he delivered groceries and flowers starting at about age 8. At age 12 at Camp Shalom, he discovered his knack for boxing. He was a high school gymnast and worked summers in Atlantic City and Miami. He graduated from Syracuse University in three years. While there, he competed on the gymnastics team and won the Eastern Intercollegiate Championships on the flying rings. After Syracuse, he attended the graduate school of business at Northwestern University where he met the woman of his dreams, Helen, at a nursing school dance. Shortly after moving his young family from Illinois to Colorado, he started his own business. Denver Wholesale Carpeting thrived for 20 years. R.J. won a MAME Award (the equivalent of the Academy Awards in the Denver new home industry) for best show home interior design. After retiring, he passionately invested in the stock market. R.J. had many passions aside from business. He was an avid dancer. In college he won jitterbug contests by wowing the judges with his gymnastics moves. He shared his passion for ballroom dancing (especially Latin dances) and gymnastics by teaching and judging. After retiring, he became a Salsa enthusiast and danced into his 80s. In addition to being a lifelong dancer, R.J. learned to figure skate, play tennis and ski along with Helen and their kids. He performed in amateur figure skating shows, played in tennis tournaments and entered recreational NASTAR ski races. He also entertained his kids and their friends with his famous magic shows in the living room. For years he was a volunteer English teacher for adults preparing for the G.E.D. exam. He also enthusiastically practiced speaking Spanish, Yiddish and German whenever he could, and recently he was re-learning to read Hebrew. He enjoyed listening to music–classical, opera, show tunes, Abba, Neil Diamond, and especially Helen singing and playing the piano. He always enjoyed telling jokes, sharing stories and laughing with friends and family. R.J. will be remembered by his positive attitude and love of life. n lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to www.smiletrain.org Services will be held at Fort Logan National Cemetery on January 16, 2015 at 9 a.m.