After defying 1950s norms to earn her master’s, the Steinhardt alum enjoyed a long career teaching business. Notable milestones include performing as "Dotsy the Clown" and remaining an active, grammar-loving optimist at 101.
Dorothy Portnoy (MA ’51, Business Education) may be one of NYU’s most veteran alumnae, but her college life was far from preordained. Her parents were uneducated. There wasn’t a lot of money to go around. Her circumstances didn’t exactly point toward graduate school, especially not at a time when fewer than 10% of graduate students were women. But Dorothy was an optimist and a go-getter, and she was determined—after receiving her undergraduate degree from Baruch—to continue her education.
She might not remember the details of scrapping together tuition, but she does remember making the daily commute to NYU from her modest childhood home in the Bronx, on a subway system that didn’t have the best reputation back during the Truman administration—but Dorothy (in her typical “glass is half full” manner) nevertheless remembers it fondly. “The subways,” she says, “were actually very reliable. I had no complaints.” Her master’s degree from Steinhardt was not only a major accomplishment for a young woman without means; it was also a springboard to a joyful life as a teacher, a traveler, a wife, and a mother.
In fact, it's impossible to talk about Dorothy without talking about her family. In the late 1950s—during a period that she discovered a talent and a love for teaching (she taught business subjects like typing, grammar, and shorthand for much of her life)—she married fellow NYU alum Leonard Portnoy (Tandon ’51, Stern ’60), a chemical engineer with a Polytechnic degree. They settled in Stamford, Connecticut, where they raised two daughters, Sandra and Shari, in a house filled with love and laughter. Dorothy continued teaching (again, bucking the norms of Eisenhower-era America), and the family settled into a suburban life that was certainly stable, but was also punctuated by adventures.
When Leonard’s work took him to Holland for six months, the family pulled up their stakes and joined him (“The girls were young,” Dorothy says. “Shari was only six months and Sandra was probably in kindergarten.”) When Dorothy won a trip-to-Paris contest run by a local Stamford radio station, she and Leonard packed up on only four days’ notice, eager to see the City of Lights.
Their lives were equal parts suburban-community bliss (Dorothy was, at one point, a Brownies Troop Leader for her daughters, and the family faithfully attended synagogue each Saturday), and a see-the-world travelogue without bounds. There were the shorter, regular trips to the Catskills where Leonard, who moonlighted as a comedian, was known as the funniest chemical engineer in a hundred-mile radius. But there were also cruises to ports and cities around the globe. Dorothy collected dolls from every trip; you can still find them displayed in her home, a tangible reminder of her multifarious adventures. “Don’t ask where have we been,” Dorothy says. “Ask where have we not been.”
Once the kids were grown, Dorothy and Leonard relocated to Florida, where Dorothy continued to teach even as a new vocation emerged from their years of fun and laughter: clowning. Leonard took on the alias of Zippo the Clown, bringing his gift for funny to hospitals and parades and events. Never one to be left out, Dorothy joined him as Dotsy the Clown. They became a two-person joy-dissemination team—a perfect role for a couple that had been amusing others (and each other) for decades. “Leonard had so many jokes,” Dorothy says. “People laughed wherever we went.” This childlike spirit was certainly on display when Dorothy and Leonard became the oldest participants—at 86 and 91 respectively—in 2013’s National Underwear Day, which they joined spontaneously on a trip to New York City.
Although her beloved Leonard passed away in 2018, Dorothy is still writing new chapters. Her 100th birthday party had the fanfare and energy of a gala wedding event. Her 101st—celebrated just this past year—gathered together friends and family who continue to marvel at Dorothy’s attitude and energy. At 101, she still enjoys dancing and exercising; chair yoga is her current favorite. And Florida is warm enough that she can get outside just about every day. She spends time by the pool. She listens to Jewish music (in Yiddish). She still attends synagogue every Saturday.
She still smiles a lot, too, accompanied now by Shari, her younger daughter and caretaker and best friend. And although it may no longer be in a formal capacity, Dorothy still puts on her teacher’s hat from time to time, refusing to let sloppy grammar go unnoticed. “She corrects everyone,” Shari says. “All the aids are used to it.” Dorothy admits that she’s still a stickler, and says that she had to stop attending one of her yoga classes because the instructor made too many grammatical errors. But she doesn’t seem irked so much as thankful that there’s always another chance to engage with people, to teach them something, and to make them smile.
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