George H. Nofer, Philadelphia attorney and advocate for education for the deaf, dies at 94
A gifted lawyer, he helped open schools for deaf children and never stopped learning himself.
George H. Nofer, 94, of Philadelphia, an attorney and advocate for education for the deaf, diedMonday, April 19, of natural causes at his son’s Boston-area home.
Mr. Nofer racked up numerous professional and civic achievements over the years, but at the heart of it all was his passion for learning and life, his three children said.
“He was a Renaissance man,” said his daughter Jane Nofer Poskanzer. “He had endless intellectual curiosity. He just loved learning.”
Raised in the Olney section of Philadelphia, the older son of Harry and Marion Nofer, Mr. Nofer became a proud graduate of Central High School, returning to take part in alumni functions throughout his life. His education that followed was world class, but his family said he insisted the best teachers he ever had were at Central.
After high school, he went on to Haverford College. That was interrupted by his service in World War II, during which he was stationed in Germany. Back home, he completed his degree, then graduated from Yale Law School, becoming an attorney like his father.
Mr. Nofer joined the Philadelphia firm of Schnader, Harrison, Segal & Lewis, chairing the firm’s trust and estate department for many years and serving as president of the American College of Estate and Trust Counsel. He retired as a partner in the firm in 1992, but remained in active practice through 2005.
Mr. Nofer found a second career as a co-trustee and executive director of the Oberkotter Foundation, an organization that serves deaf children started by the family of Paul Oberkotter, a UPS executive who was one of Nofer’s clients.
True to his nature, Mr. Nofer learned all he could about his new endeavor, leading the foundation to open new schools for the deaf around the country. He became involved with the Alexander Graham Bell Association and was honored by the creation of the George H. Nofer Scholarship for Law and Public Policy, which supports deaf students who attend law schools or schools of public policy.
Mr. Nofer had other gifts. His was a fine tenor voice — excellent for singing hymns, operas by Wagner, or public speaking.
“He had a big presence when he walked into a room,” daughter Ellen Nofer Sinclair said.
“He was a natural-born leader,” son Paul Nofer said.
His son said he still recalls the time his father was president of the Upper Moreland School Board during the Vietnam War era, and many of his district colleagues wanted to bar some long-haired male students from graduating. Mr. Nofer, according to his son, passionately and successfully took up the students’ cause.
Most of his adult life, Mr. Nofer was an active member of the Abington Presbyterian Church. (He raised his children in Abington.) A change in faith later in life led him to become a Quaker. He was a member of the Haverford Friends Meeting at the time of his death.
Mr. Nofer, above all, was deeply devoted to his family.
“My dad would always say, ‘I learned what was important in life.’ Family always came first,” said daughter Jane. “As busy as he was — a partner in a big law firm — if we called his office, any member of the family, he would take that call. His secretary was instructed: ‘Family calls. You interrupt whatever’s going on.’ I always knew if I called my dad at work, he would take that call.”
Even in the worst times growing up, she said, having someone like him made all the difference.
“He had my back, and he thought the world of me,” Jane said. “That helped get me through life.”
In addition to his three children, Mr. Nofer is survived by wife Rosemary Ioele Straus, five grandchildren, and other relatives. With his late first wife, Anne, Mr. Nofer had another son, Bobby, who died of cancer at age 6.
Due to the pandemic, plans for a memorial service have been postponed. Donations in Mr. Nofer’s memory can be made to the Bobby Nofer Scholarship Fund at Haverford College, c/o Institutional Advancement, 370 Lancaster Ave., Haverford, Pa. 19041 or at Haverford.edu/makeagift, indicating the fund name.
Donations can also be made to the American Friends Service Committee, 1501 Cherry St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.