George Rosenfeld

George Rosenfeld, 87, passed away at his Manhattan home on Saturday, November 12, 2022. Born in Long Branch, N.J., to George Rosenfeld and Louise Engel Rosenfeld, George graduated from Columbia High School in Maplewood before attending Lehigh University where he earned a degree in English literature. After graduation, George worked in Rome, traveled throughout India and parts of Africa, and for three years, settled in Lindos, Greece, before returning to the U.S.

A stockbroker for almost 30 years, working primarily on the floor of the American Stock Exchange, George relished a second career as a teacher. He earned an MA in the history of U.S. public education at NYU and spent the next 25 years as a devoted tutor, first at Martin Luther King Jr. High School, then at Queensborough Community College, Borough of Manhattan Community College, and finally at Urban Academy Laboratory School. He also taught history at the Bayview Correctional Facility for Women.

George was an active and engaged member of many organizations. In India, he formed a bond with an orphanage in Kanyakumari (formerly Cape Cormorin). In Manhattan, he served on the board of Village Care when it established Rivington House, the country’s first hospital devoted to the care of HIV/AIDS patients. He joined the board of Odyssey House in 1997, served as chair for ten years, and saw the need to add a program tailored to seniors in treatment for substance abuse. The George Rosenfeld Center for Recovery, on Wards Island, houses a treatment center for seniors and for women with young children.

He was a founding trustee of the Lexi Rudnitsky Poetry Project, which sponsors Persea Book’s publication of a woman’s first book of poetry, and Urban Academy’s addition to the curriculum of a poetry class. Along with Alice Whitwham, George helped found Writers in Public (WIP), which brings writers and artists to share their work with diverse communities: public high schools, rehabilitation centers, city housing centers and prisons. George also served on the boards of FairTest and Little Red School House and Elisabeth Irwin High School.

Beloved husband (Nancy Watt Rosenfeld), brother (Mary Lasser, Vicki Rudnitsky), father (Julia Watt-Rosenfeld, Jesse Rosenfeld, Piers Rosenfeld-Schreiber), father in-law (Adi Coluni Rosenfeld, Jeremy Pollet, Nikki Schreiber) and grandfather of six, he will be deeply missed.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in memory of George to Odyssey Foundation, 120 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005 or online at: odysseyhousenyc.org. A memorial service will take place in 2023 at Odyssey House’s George Rosenfeld Center for Recovery.