Dr. Cynthia P. Deutsch

Dr. Cynthia P. Deutsch died on November 16, 2024 in Chatham, NJ at the age of 96 from complications arising from Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Deutsch was born in 1928 in Chicago, IL to Mathilda and Michael Price. In 1930, the family moved to Columbia, MO where Michael was a salesman for the Morton Salt Company. Cynthia excelled as a student attending the University of Missouri laboratory school and graduated as valedictorian one year ahead of her class. Although she was accepted into Radcliffe College (the then-existing women’s college of Harvard University), her mother insisted that she stay home and attend the University of Missouri. In addition to being brilliant, she was beautiful and kind. While attending college she met Martin Deutsch, the teaching assistant in her senior year psychology class. Martin, a New Yorker, was at the Univ. of Missouri on a one-year teaching assignment before pursuing his PhD. A rapid courtship followed and, to the great disappointment of her mother, the couple were engaged within 6 weeks and married in August 1948. She and Martin moved to Chicago where they both attended the University of Chicago and where she earned a PhD in psychology in 1952.

Cynthia was truly ahead of her time. After moving to New York City in 1952, she taught at New York Medical College, Hofstra University and co-founded the Institute for Developmental Studies with her husband. The Institute started a pilot program in New York for pre-school children from disadvantaged backgrounds. The program, a predecessor to Head Start, was created to put underprivileged children on a more equal level with their future classmates. The Institute later moved to New York University where Cynthia went on to become Chairperson of the Psychology Department of NYU’s School of Education, Health, Nursing and the Professions. Cynthia also authored the parenting column for Parents Magazine for many years and taught courses in the late 1970s on Sunrise Semester, an NYU distance learning course televised on WCBS from 1957-1982. She also maintained a private practice in New York and Weston, CT, authored several books and innumerable academic publications, and was the recipient of many awards and recognitions. Cynthia was also a guest on David Letterman’s short-lived morning talk show in 1980.

Cynthia had an innate kindness and respect for people and whether you were the letter carrier, parking attendant, store owner, student or Dean, she would invariably establish a genuine personal rapport and connection.

Cynthia lived for decades in New York City before moving to Weston, CT, but returned to New York in 2010 and then New Jersey in 2012. Although she became an “East Coaster” who reveled in walking around NYU and the Upper West Side, vacationing in Cape Cod or Fire Island and going to Zabar’s on Sunday mornings (where she and her husband had the very first house charge account and became personal friends with Sam, the Lox Slicer), she always referred to herself as a “girl from Missouri” which she insisted on pronouncing as “Mi-Zurah.”

She was predeceased by her husband, Martin, and a son, Jonah. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Benjamin and Beth of Maplewood, NJ and three grandchildren.

The family will be receiving guests for Cynthia on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 from 8:15 AM to 8:45 AM at Bernheim Apter Kreitzman Suburban Funeral Chapel, 68 Old Short Hills Road, Livingston, New Jersey 07039, followed by a funeral service at 9:00 AM. Burial to follow at Temple Israel Cemetery, 225 Richards Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06850.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Cynthia’s memory may be made to Planned Parenthood or the Jewish Federation of MetroWest New Jersey.