Happening Now
Remembering Phoebe Snow
February 21, 2025
Brian Rosenwald (also known as Phoebe Snow), retired Amtrak VP, beloved innovator in passenger rail customer service, and the executive credited with introducing the Pacific Parlour Car with its special dining menu and wine-tastings to the Coast Starlight, died Wednesday at 72 following a brief illness.
“Brian... oversaw the rebuilding of vintage cars and created an exclusive club for sleeper car occupants,” the family wrote in an obituary published this week. “Brian scheduled on-board wine tastings and entertainment and gave a controversial and characteristically visionary 100% service guarantee. It was all a monster hit. Brian was proud to be an excellent boss who believed in his employees. He retired as a Vice President at Amtrak in 2013.”
Following retirement, Brian, known later as Phoebe, “embarked upon a new labor of love," the family said, "becoming co-owner of Taste Food & Wine on Jarvis, where she conducted richly informative and entertaining tastings.”
Griff Hubbard, a colleague and video-blogger who was with the Texas Eagle Marketing & Performance Organization revenue-managing the Texas Eagle, did an extensive interview and conversation with Phoebe about Amtrak, trains, customer-service, and Brian’s story. You can find that on YouTube by clicking here.
"It is an honor to be recognized by the Rail Passengers Association for my efforts to strengthen and expand America’s passenger rail. Golden spikes were once used by railroads to mark the completion of important rail projects, so I am truly grateful to receive the Golden Spike Award as a way to mark the end of a career that I’ve spent fighting to invest in our country’s rail system. As Chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, it has been my priority to bolster funding for Amtrak, increase and expand routes, look to the future by supporting high-speed projects, and improve safety, culminating in $66 billion in new funding in the Bipartisan infrastructure Law."
Representative Peter DeFazio (OR-04)
March 30, 2022, on receiving the Association's Golden Spike Award for his years of dedication and commitment to passenger rail.
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