Hackensack High School
Yearbook Photo
1940

Although Melvin Gelber was not the headline appointment to the Naval Academy as
Charles E. Blackford, III, he was another Hackensack young man mentioned in
The Bergen Record December 18, 1941 article. Melvin Gelber is an alternate to the other headline appointment Walter M. Schirra, who became one of the original 7 Mercury Astronauts in 1959. Walter M. Schirra was born in Hackensack Hospital and grew up in Oradell, New Jersey.  The people in Oradell in 1930’s -1940’s had the option of sending their children to Hackensack High School or Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, and his parents chose to send Walter to Englewood.

Click here to view Walter M. Schirra’s extensive resume on his life’s accomplishments.

Click here to view images of three major space missions and the Hackensack Parade.

Melvin Gelber is mentioned in this article as having been a lifelong resident of Hackensack and a graduate from the local schools. He was a sophomore at Notre Dame University at the time, at the very young age of only 18 years old.

Written by:
Bob Meli
June 18, 2013

Click here to view the article in The Bergen Evening Record from December 18, 1941 that tells of Blackford and Schirra being appointed to the Naval Academy.