In Memoriam

Kathi Goldman, a high school biology and chemistry teacher for 25 years, a former UFT chapter leader and a longtime girls softball coach, died on Sept. 3, 2023, after a 16-month battle with cancer. She was 80...

George Altomare, a key founder of the UFT who led with insight, devotion and a great deal of heart, died on Aug. 20, 2023, at age 92 after a long illness...

Barbara Benjaminson, a retired lab specialist who worked in New York City public schools for 29 years, died on July 24, 2023, of complications from diabetes...

George Caulfield, a longtime representative for Manhattan’s District 3 who remained active in the union in retirement, was “the salt of the earth” and “a kind soul” who earned UFT members’ devotion and respect through his tireless advocacy for them...

“Leo Hoenig, a founder of this union, was a great man. We are just caretakers of what he and other retirees built,” said UFT Secretary LeRoy Barr at a June 13, 2023, meeting of the union’s Retired Teachers Chapter, of which Leo was an active member...

Bob Miller was a founding member of the UFT and a dedicated teacher at George Washington HS in northern Manhattan. He was a union organizer for the fledgling UFT and a longtime UFT District 6 representative par excellence...

Carolyn Smart, a longtime special education teacher and UFT member whose career spanned 40 years, was known as an educator who treated all her students with respect and dignity...

Neil Olshan, a beloved elementary school teacher, treasured colleague and union supporter, died on April 16, 2023, of a rare condition. He was just shy of his 80th birthday...

Betty June Gottfried, the longtime chapter leader of the UFT’s Adult Education Chapter, successfully organized city-employed educators of adults, lobbied the union to recognize them and fought to win salaries, pensions and benefits equal to those of other...

Patricia “Pat” Filomena, a respected Bronx teacher and longtime union activist, died on Feb. 4 following an illness. She had just celebrated her 80th birthday on Feb. 1, 2023...

Jennie Esposito, a retired business education teacher and guidance counselor at August Martin HS in Jamaica, Queens, died on Feb. 13, 2023, of cancer. She was 72...

Max Brimberg, a Brooklyn social studies teacher and the first UFT Brooklyn high schools representative, was known for his dedication to teaching, the union and social justice...

George Franz became a paraprofessional in 1976, working at PS 3 in Manhattan, and two years later made the jump to science teacher. He would be an educator for 20 years...

To hear friends and colleagues tell it, the "accent" on Shelly Vilsaint's last name belonged firmly on the second syllable...

Elizabeth Sciabarra, who had a positive influence on thousands of students during a career in education that lasted more than 40 years, died on Nov. 26, 2022, after two years of serious health problems. She was 70...

Frances Osborne, a paraprofessional for more than 30 years at X754, the J.M. Rapport School for Career Development in the Bronx, whose closest friends knew her as Ozzie, died of congestive heart failure on Nov. 19, 2022, at age 64. She retired after the...

Over a 70-year career in public service, Osceola Louis Fletcher — commonly known as Ozzy — spent just 18 years as a teacher, working from 1972 to 1990 at Boys and Girls HS in Brooklyn, where he taught English...

Barbara Mylite, the UFT's district representative for District 30 in Queens for 13 years, "was a force but she was also compassionate," according to Geraldine Clark, a former chapter leader for PS 92 in that district...

Retired teacher Barry Spielvogel, a UFT member for 53 years and a beloved Public Schools Athletic League coach, died on Oct. 9, 2022, at age 75...

Retired educator Joyce Magnus, who helped thousands of teachers get their certification and worked tirelessly as a retiree to advance the UFT's political agenda, died on Oct. 8, 2022, of heart failure. She was 80...

Susan Miller's girlhood dream of working for the U.S. State Department and living abroad ended 50 years ago when she learned that a top diplomat who spoke out against the Vietnam War at a party was demoted to a job in Passport Control after his supervisor...

Marna Davidson, the former coordinator of the Retired Teachers Chapter’s Florida office, “made the UFT into a presence to be reckoned with in pursuit of union goals,” said RTC Chapter Leader Tom Murphy...

"Children took to" Laura Heifferman because she "was a great teacher with a great personality," said her colleague and longtime friend, JoAnn Chokos...

Retired teacher Sherylyn Bailey, a staffer in the UFT’s Staten Island borough office and the longtime UFT coordinator of Making Strides Against Breast Cancer for the borough, died suddenly on Sept. 10, 2022. She was 74...