Nathan Aronson

NATHAN ARONSON

Nathan Aronson, a proud son of Brooklyn, N.Y., who loved the Sangre de Cristo mountains as much as he relished big-city energy, died Oct. 29 at age 88. 

The Covid-19 virus took Nathan’s life. He was a resident of Kingston Santa Fe Memory Care and also suffered from advanced vascular dementia.

Born in Brooklyn Dec. 25, 1931, Nathan would always tell those inquiring about his birth, “You get the day off on my birthday!”  

Nathan was the fourth and last child of Jewish immigrant parents from Poland, who fortunately arrived in the US before the Holocaust. Later in life, Nathan searched for family members in Europe who may have survived the Holocaust, but found none.

Growing up in a poor urban neighborhood of immigrants – Jewish, Italian, Irish, Puerto Rican – he maintained cherished friendships with childhood friends who became lawyers, doctors, judges, architects and artists. His early exposure to a diverse array of people fueled Nathan’s lifelong curiosity about other people and cultures.

As a senior official with the Federal Aviation Administration, Nathan was a leader of the team that designed and implemented the national air traffic control system in the 1970s and 80s. His team created an extraordinarily efficient and safe system for airplanes flying in synchronized patterns to avoid pile-ups and congestion at major airports, a system that is largely unchanged today and remains the international standard for air traffic control throughout the world.

Over four decades living in Washington D.C., Nathan became an expert home chef and well-known figure among the city’s burgeoning culinary scene. He was a welcome familiar face for restaurant hosts and a devoted customer to the city’s finest purveyors. In 1984, Nathan met Marie Bass, the love of his life, and they married in 1988. Their homes on the east coast and in Santa Fe were the scenes for highly anticipated dinner parties and festive gatherings among their wide circle of friends and family.

Nathan held degrees in civil and electronic engineering from Hofstra College of Long Island, Brooklyn Polytechnic (now part of NYU) and the University of California at Berkeley. Before college, he served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, stationed in Japan. He learned radar technology, climbed Mount Fuji, acquired his appreciation for Asian art and became an expert downhill skier.

His love of skiing was a focus of many travels throughout the U.S. and Europe, where he skied major resorts, his favorites being Zermatt in Switzerland, and Taos, N.M. His attraction to Santa Fe began with skiing but grew into love for all that Santa Fe offers – art, music, culture and the intellectual community. Nathan and Marie retired from Washington D.C. to Santa Fe in 2006. Nathan’s passion for the “land of enchantment” was beyond measure, especially its mountains, and he skied both in Santa Fe and Taos well into his 80s.

In addition to Marie, Nathan is survived by his daughter Hella Aronson Henny and her husband Leo of Pawling, NY; Nathan’s first wife (Hella’s mother) Norma Stagliano Zotos; grandchildren Maxwell Hunter and Serena Rose Henny; step-son Timothy Parish Carey and grandson Jack David Carey of Washington, DC; nieces and nephews Jocelyn Zaslaw of Boston, MA; Jeffrey Levy, Rob Aronson and Arthur Aronson of California; grand-nieces and nephews Elizabeth and Zachary Aronson, and Maya and Jake Zaslaw.

The family expresses profound gratitude to Brenda Bauer, Jason Wright, the staff of Kingston Memory Care, and others too numerous to name for their caregiving, counsel, medical attention and other assistance during a decade of Nathan’s decline into dementia, a heartbreaking journey faced by so many families. In memory of Nathan, please contribute to a charity supporting research into dementia and Alzheimer's. Or donate to Nathan’s own favorite charity, Adaptive Sports Program New Mexico (https://www.adaptivesportsprogram.org), a group that enables physically-disabled persons to ski.

Friends may join a memorial service for Nathan at 11 a.m. mountain time on Thursday, November 5, either in person at Rivera funeral home or by video link (www.viewlogies.net/rivera/A8j01azwh) password nathan. In a private service with military honors, Nathan will be buried at the National Cemetery in Santa Fe, a final resting place for U.S. veterans who have served our country with dedication and distinction.