Norman was best known as a restauranteur. He was the owner of Manhattan’s famous Copain Restaurant.
The Copain opened in 1945, serving expensive old-school classic French food in an elegant dining room. The Copain was just across the street from Beekman Place, then known as “the most exclusive enclave in Manhattan.” Over the years, famous tenants included Julie Newmar, Irving Berlin, Shirley MacLaine and John D. Rockefeller.
Apart from the fine food and wine, The Copain also offered something else that appealed to its rich and famous clientele: DELIVERY. A New York Times article from 1945 describes the door-to-door service as a strange new phenomenon: “There is no deposit on any of the dishes on which the food is delivered, for the agent waits while it is transferred to one’s own receptacles and then takes the containers back on the return trip.”
The Copain Restaurant was featured in the 1971 classic film “The French Connection.” One of the best scenes in the classic 1971 movie is the stakeout at The Copain. In this part, two heroin smugglers enjoy a leisurely, opulent meal, as hard-boiled cop Jimmy “Popeye” Doyle (played by Gene Hackman) stands across the street in the freezing cold, spying on them with a cup of deli coffee in one hand, and a slice of pizza in the other. It’s a great little moment about dining highs and lows in New York City. As it turns out, the filmmakers couldn’t have picked a better restaurant to communicate luxe European-style fine dining in the 1970s.
Norman worked his way through William & Mary as a waiter in several Williamsburg restaurants. While paying for his education in food service, he worked toward a major in business administration and was also a member of Kappa Sigma Fraternity, the Accounting Club, the Intrafraternity Council and the Newman Club.
Norman’s affiliation with the College continued long after graduation as evidenced by his involvement with the Order of the White Jacket, the William & Mary Fund and the alumni chapter in New York City, where his restaurant served as a gathering place for New York alumni.
Under the leadership of President Thomas Graves L.H.D. ’02, P ’90 (1971-1985), the Alumni Society worked to expand its programs. This included steps toward increasing chapter activities. There were more than a dozen meetings outside of Virginia. Norman, as proprietor of the Copain Restaurant, was the organizer of the meeting in New York City.
Norman was a member of the Board of Directors of the Society of the Alumni in 1978. His legacy lives on through the Order of the White Jacket with the Moomjian Memorial Scholarship (0585).
