Co-Founder of the First ‘Star Trek’ Convention Elyse Rosenstein Has Died
File 770 is reporting that Elyse Rosenstein, one of the organizers of the first Star Trek convention, suddenly passed away yesterday. A retired science teacher, she was undergoing rehabilitation for a broken leg when she passed.
As for her involvement in fandom, she played an important role in convention history. File 770 recounts:
With Joyce Yasner, Joan Winston, Linda Deneroff and Devra Langsam, she organized the very first Star Trek convention, held in NYC in 1972. The convention was not only the very first media convention, it was also the biggest science fiction convention to date by a considerable margin.
As Rosenstein recounted at a Star Trek convention held at the Javits Center in NYC which commemorated the 50th anniversary of Star Trek on NBC, she, with her friend and fellow fan Devra Langsam, first conceived the idea of the convention.
“For some unknown reason I turned to her and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be neat to have a science fiction convention for just ‘Star Trek?’ and she turned to me and said, ‘Yeah,’ we could invite 500 of our most intimate friends,’” she explained. “If she’d said that it was a terrible idea, none of this would have happened.”
Rosenstein was 69 years old and is survived by her son Michael.
Via File 770
I notified File 770 that Linda Deneroff was not one of the people involved with the 1972 convention. She joined us in 1973.
The committee in 1972, as per the Souvenir Book was:
Al Schuster, Co-ordinator
Elyse Pines, Program
Joan Winston, Dealers Room, NASA Display, Signs
Eileen Becker, Registration
Allan Asherman, Art Show
Deborah Langsam, Costume Call
Joyce Yasner, Displays
Devra Langsam, Slide Shows, Program Asst.
Regina Gottesman, Hospitality
Steve Rosenstein, Auctioneer, MC
Stu Hellinger, Program Assistant
Chris Steinbrunner/Chester Grabowski, Visuals
Technicality or not, wasn’t the first “convention” led by Sherna Comerford and Devra Langsham at the Newark New Jersey public library, on March 1, 1969? 300 people crammed into a public auditorium to discuss the show and view slides and hear lectures, sounds like a con to me, just minus the merchandise.