Martin (Marty) A. Einhorn passed away Thursday night after contracting COVID-19 while battling cancer. Marty was a founding member of Norfolk CPA firm Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer and a passionate community and arts advocate. After becoming involved with Young Audiences in the mid-1980s, Marty first served as president of the Board of Directors in the early 1990s and was re-elected in 2011. Marty received our Volunteer of the Year award twice, sharing with us his time, financial resources, creativity, and leadership skills. We extend our heartfelt sympathies to Marty’s wife Susan, sons Willy and Jay (April), granddaughter Charlotte, parents Barry and Lois, and sister Wendy (Ron).

 Arts for Learning’s CEO, Chris Everly, shared these thoughts about Marty and the impact he had on so many: 

It was a Young Audiences performance when he was a student that inspired Marty to start playing the trumpet and his lifelong love of jazz. His life was a living testimony to the force that can be unleashed through exposure to the arts. He was a passionate supporter for our organization and many other arts and community organizations, especially if they worked to help people marginalized by society.

 Marty used to say he wanted to get a tattoo of Miles Davis on his forearm for his sixtieth birthday and instead he got cancer. He eventually got his wish–a tattoo of a trumpet with Miles Davis’s signature below it–before his second battle with cancer. 

 If Marty saw a need, he immediately got to work on a solution and had the gift of getting to others to join him. He had an enormous and diverse network of friends. People were drawn to Marty because of his positive attitude and genuine concern for the well–being of others. When Marty asked, “How are you?”, he meant it.

It is difficult to express the enormity of loss all of us at Arts for Learning feel because of the huge influence he had upon our organization and upon all of us as individuals.  In tribute to Marty, I hope we can always remember the difference our work can make to a child and see challenges as opportunities rather than obstacles.”