Samuel J. Rosenbloom, 82, a Chicago bar owner and card-carrying magician, died Friday, Feb. 9, of pneumonia in St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. Born in Detroit, Mr. Rosenbloom moved to Chicago in 1931 when his father, Jake, opened a candy store near Clark Street and Oakdale Avenue. He and his three older brothers took over the family business in the early 1940s and turned it into a bar and liquor store. The brothers sold the bar and retired in the 1980s, but Jake’s Pub is still open for business in the same location. Mr. Rosenbloom and his brothers opened a second tavern and started a successful bartending school, but Mr. Rosenbloom’s real joy came from entertaining with slight of hand. “He was always pulling coins from behind your ears, and making handkerchiefs appear and disappear,” said Mr. Rosenbloom’s nephew, Jay Pomeranz. “He did everything you’d expect from a professional magician, and he was as good as they were too.” Mr. Rosenbloom, who performed mostly at weddings and other social functions, was a longtime member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians. He met and fell in love with the late Marge Germaine when she wandered into Jake’s one day as a customer. The two were married in the 1950s and lived in Chicago for the rest of their lives. Other survivors include his sister, Gertrude Kahan. Services will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday in Memorial Park Mausoleum Chapel, 9900 Gross Point Road, Skokie.
