Sherwin Sanford Kornblum

Husband, father, physician, patriarch, Sherwin Sanford Kornblum started out life in New York on November 10, 1931, born to Bluma and Irving Kornblum.

Sandy spent his early years living in Brooklyn with his older brother Dolph, who was also a close friend and mentor; his doting mother who fed, spoiled, and loved him; and his devoted father, who taught Sandy his first trade as a butcher and regaled his children with his renowned sense of humor.

When Sandy was a young teen the Kornblums moved to Los Angeles, where Sandy attended Fairfax High School (he had skipped two grammar school grades) and worked in his dad’s downtown butcher shop.

His most fateful move came quite by accident when he visited his mother in the hospital where she’d had a procedure. It was there that he met the daughter of his mother’s hospital roommate: young, beautiful Charlene Kahn. She was 15. He was 16.

The meeting would carve a path to a storybook future with the girl of his dreams. In fact, it is impossible to tell Sandy’s story without also telling Charlene’s.

Sandy asked her out. More than once. She eventually said yes. She thought he was handsome, kind, and smart.

But when he sat down at the piano, everything changed. As she watched his slender fingers glide over the keys and heard him tease out  his masterpiece, Chopin’s Fantaisie-Impromptu, she knew he was the man for her.

She gave the bad news to her other suitors. (Sandy did the same.) The deal was sealed.

Sandy, a UCLA college student, pinned Char in the spring of 1952. The two were married on June 29, 1952. They would have married earlier, but their parents made them wait.

Sandy was 20. Char was 19. The theme song at their wedding was Too Young by Nat King Cole.

But clearly, they weren’t too young. Their union would not just endure, but thrive. Together they created a large, close family, businesses, and a legacy of love and caring. Their marriage lasted until Sandy’s last day some 72 years later. Sandy was 93 and Charlene was 91.

Their love and devotion to each other is the stuff of legends. Sandy and Char declared their love for each other daily. He often told his children that his wife was the most beautiful woman in the room. That never changed. They were constantly together and would hold hands even while watching traveling cooking on YouTube in front of dad’s computer. In Sandy’s last days when he could no longer walk, Charlene would climb into his narrow hospital bed and the two would cuddle up contentedly.

They were so close that their children referred to them  in emails with the singular word, “momndad.”

While their love was constant, their lives were not. Theirs was a rags-to-riches story built on the best that the American dream had to offer.

Young Charlene dropped out of UCLA to help support Sandy through his medical training. The two began building a family while he studied at Chicago Medical School. There they had daughters Candy and Lori. At times they were so impoverished that they relied on welfare to make it through.

They moved across the country to Oakland, Calif. where Sandy trained at Highland Hospital. Harley was born there. Then they moved to snowy Minnesota where Sandy trained at the Mayo Clinic. That’s where Janet was born.

In 1963, they loaded up a station wagon with a mattress in the back and four children, aged 1 to 6 wearing matching outfits that Char had sewn and drove across country. Again. They settled in Beverly Hills where they purchased their first house.

Dr. S. S. Kornblum, orthopedic surgeon, joined a  thriving Beverly Hills practice.

In 1967, they had their fifth and final child, David

In the 1970s, Sandy and Char opened a Sunset Boulevard medical practice where they were pioneers in terms of his collaborative approach to workers’ compensation. Charlene managed and ran the practice and the children sometimes worked in the office filing and taking case histories. Candyce worked with him until he retired at 84 after more than six decades working as a physician.

The pair worked hard, traveled the world, raised five children, and eventually welcomed nine grandchildren. They grew the medical practice and began what would become a thriving real estate company, C&S Enterprises, which their son, David, runs.

Sandy was known for his generosity, kindness, sense of humor, and ability to command a room simply by entering it.

His greatest gift was his fierce devotion to his family.

He would regularly bring all his children and grandchildren together for holidays, vacations, and family celebrations. Each of his five children, each of their spouses, and each and every one of his nine grandchildren had their own special relationship with him.

He insisted on togetherness and it was his fondest wish that his family continue those traditions.

His passing spoke to the life he led. In his final days, one by one his family and close friends sat by his bedside or reached out to him by Facetime. They whispered thoughts to him, thanking him for his love, kindness, generosity, and humor. They told him how much he had meant to them. They thanked him for gifts that could never be repaid directly, but would be passed along for generations to come.

Sherwin Sanford Kornblum slipped away in the predawn hours of February 28, 2025. He was 93 and created a world too large to contain in one obituary.

He is survived by his wife of 72 years, Charlene Sally Kornblum as well as five children: Candyce Kornblum (spouse Adam Rosenstein); Hon. Lori Kornblum (spouse Dr. Bruce Semon); Dr. Harley Kornblum (spouse Dr. Carolyn Crandall); Janet Kornblum (spouse Rhys Pedersen); and David Kornblum (spouse Dawn Resnik). He is also survived by nine grandchildren: David Anger (spouse Julia Shapiro); Avi Semon; Dr. Sarah Semon; Mikah Shafran (spouse Emily Shafran), Josh Kornblum, Julien Kornblum, Andrey Kornblum-Resnik, Ava-Rae Resnik-Kornblum, and Alijah Resnik-Kornblum.

Services will be held 2 p.m. Tuesday March 4 at Hillside Memorial Park and Mortuary, 6001 W. Centinela Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90045 and Mortuary and will be followed by a gathering at the Kornblum home.

Services will be livestreamed at https://hillsidememorial.livecontrol.tv/a1982cdd

In lieu of flowers, you may consider a donation to a charity of your choice or Doctors Without Borders or Jewish Federation Los Angeles .