CHAIM P. ROTHSTEIN: Newspaper Obituary and Death Notice

CHAIM P. ROTHSTEIN, CANTOR, PAPER MERCHANT, 47, Chaim P. Rothstein, 47, of Mount Airy, a cantor and paper merchant, died Tuesday of a heart attack on the beach at Block Island, R.I.,where he and his wife, Barbara Breitman, were on a second honeymoon after two years of marriage. It was the second recent tragedy for the family. For about a year, Mr. Rothstein and his wife were foster parents for Keyonnee and Kimberley Thalia, daughters of Breitman's cousin who was murdered in Eugene, Ore. The Block Island vacation was their first time alone together without the girls, whom they met while on their first honeymoon, said a friend, Phyllis Berman. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Rothstein was a third-generation cantor. He had been a soloist with the Zamir Chorale in New York and was a 1984 finalist in the Pavarotti competition. Since 1969, he was cantor at several area congregations, including Beth El Suburban in Broomall, Beth Jacob-Beth Israel in Cherry Hill; Ohev Shalom in Wallingford and Ramat El in Philadelphia. Since 1972, he had worked as a paper merchant, in Fort Washington. Mr. Rothstein, a 1984 finalist in the Pavarotti competition in Philadelphia, received his formal training at the Teachers' and Cantorial Institutes of Yeshiva University in New York City, and he completed his degree in voice performance and Hebrew literature at Temple University's College of Music and Gratz Hebrew College. Besides his wife, he is survived by Lisa and Beth Rothstein, his daughters from a previous marriage; his mother, Miriam; a sister; and two brothers. Services were held Thursday.