Remembering Martin Norregaard, Beloved BFS Teacher and Friend to Generations

Martin Norregaard, one of the most beloved teachers in the history of Brooklyn Friends School, passed away this week. He was believed to be 95. Martin taught Middle School English and Social Studies at BFS from 1961–1991, and later served in various, less full-time capacities, including on the Board of Trustees. 

Born and raised in Brooklyn, Martin started his professional career working for an airline, a travel agency, and a furniture manufacturer. In the mid-1950s, he decided on a career change and attended Teachers College at Columbia University. “I wanted a job that would be different every day,” he said in a 2011 interview with a BFS student in response to why he decided to try teaching. That same year, to commemorate 50 years since beginning at Brooklyn Friends, Martin was honored at Reunion.  

One of the things Martin was known for was never forgetting his past students, or their work. When asked in 2011 about a specific student, he recalled: “Of course, she was from the 1970s. I also remember a student years ago wrote a poem about boxes. How we are in boxes all the time; a car is a box with wheels, a building is a box, a room is a box.”

Students from three decades all remember Martin Norregaard as being completely out of the box, in the best of ways. “Martin is in the grateful thoughts of so many,” said longtime BFS chronicler Susan Price ’86, when sharing the news of his passing. 

BFS plans to remember Martin this spring at Alumni Reunion weekend, so that so many of his hundreds of students can pay their respects. More details are forthcoming.