Obituary of Carl Joseph Blum
Carl J. Blum, aged 80, of Boonton Township, NJ, formerly of Livingston, NJ, died peacefully at home on June 15, 2023 of complications from metastatic lung cancer.
He is survived by his beloved wife Maureen, to whom he was married for fifty-four years; daughter Hester (Jonathan Eburne) and son Jonah (Brigitte Salembier); grandchildren Al Blum Eburne and Charlotte, Madeleine, Sophia, Daphne, and Maeve Blum; and younger brother Larry.
Carl was born on May 21, 1943 in Bronx, NY, and went to high school in Long Beach, NY. He met Maureen at Bowling Green State University, and they settled in Brooklyn before moving to Livingston to raise their children.
Carl was a corporate recruiter and the founder of Embark Personnel Agency. In thirty-seven years of self-employment he secured jobs for thousands of people. His greatest professional pride was Tip of the Arrow, a nonprofit organization for veterans that he co-founded with Bob Deissig in 2008. In seven years Carl and Bob placed over 1200 veterans in meaningful careers.
From Bedford-Stuyvesant to Boonton Township, Carl was a dedicated volunteer in the communities in which he lived. He coached his children in the Livingston American Little League and the Livingston Soccer Club, and had a long friendship with the adult members of The Arc of Essex County. After 9/11, at the age of 59, Carl became the oldest graduate of the Morris County Fire Academy and worked as a volunteer firefighter in Boonton Township. He was the President of the Boonton Township Fire Department (2005-2007) and served as a Boonton Township Committeeman as well as the Fire Commissioner (2006-2009). Carl also relished helping friends and family members with their college and career searches.
No one ever forgot meeting him: Carl had an outsized, vivid personality. He loved mountain biking in South Mountain Reservation and Moab, bodysurfing at Long Beach and Long Beach Island, cross-country skiing in Lake Placid, and roller skating down Route 10 in Livingston. He was a lively storyteller to his grandchildren. An ardent reader, Carl modeled for his family a love of literature. He was known for sending books to nieces, nephews, and young friends. He always had a book in hand, even at his last oncology appointments.
Carl delighted in travel with his family, and over 30 years drove a series of motorhomes throughout North America. He particularly loved traveling to Nova Scotia, the US Southwest, Jerusalem, and Alaska, to which the family drove in 1986 over the as-yet unpaved Alcan Highway. In recent years Carl took great joy in admiring Maureen's garden from the deck of their riverfront home. In the lives of those who loved him, his loss is profound.
The family will hold a memorial service later in the summer.
