Friendship of Central High School, University of Pennsylvania graduates spans 81 years

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Paid Sponsor Partnership: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging

About once a month, Jerry Rosenthal and Lloyd Zane Remick meet for lunch. At the White Dog Café in Haverford, they reminisce about their lifelong friendship.

"I found the yearbook from Central High School," says Rosenthal, a retired certified public accountant. "You and I were on the same page."

"And that's the way we've been doing it for 81 years," says Remick, an entertainment and sports attorney.

They met at Ellwood Elementary School when they were six years old.

"We both happened to grow up in East Oak Lane in Philadelphia," says Rosenthal.

They graduated from Central High School in 1955. Then, they both went to the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1959.

Service in the military further solidified their bond.

"Jerry got captivated by the uniform," says Remick. "A scholarship sounded great to me, so we both signed up for ROTC."

"We got an old Army uniform, I still think they were from World War I," says Rosenthal.

They kid about that time, but Remick says they're "very proud" of their military service.

"I ended up in Korea for a year and a half," says Rosenthal.

"I was a lawyer in the Army, and a JAG, and negotiated a lot of contracts for tanks and planes and battleships for the government," says Remick.

Remick was negotiating those contracts during the Vietnam War.

"And Jerry and I stayed very close friends through all of it," he says.

Rosenthal became an accountant, while Remick was a pioneering attorney in entertainment and sports law.

"We started sharing some clients," says Remick. "We represented the great jazz legend Grover Washington, Jr."

He says one client led to another.

Rosenthal retired in 2007, but Remick still represents entertainers and athletes.

"Life is a function of being in the right place at the right time," says Remick.

And their friendship has endured through life's ups and downs.

"Jerry is my best friend because he's loyal. He's always there for me. I know I can count on him," says Remick. "I've had a lot of close friends, Jerry's had a lot of close friends, but this is family almost."

"We just always keep in touch," says Rosenthal.

"We're both very blessed to have each other," says Remick.

Remick mentioned that their military service changed their lives in many ways and he's still serving veterans in the area.

For the last five years, he's served as the vice commander of American Legion Post 405 in Philadelphia and is one of five veteran commissioners for PVAC, the Philadelphia Veterans Advisory Commission.

And it's all because they signed up for ROTC all those years ago at the University of Pennsylvania.