John Bligh
- Retired teacher
- Chapter leader
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.
Barry died of heart disease, said his wife, Leida Rosenberg, also a UFT retiree.
Barry started his 32-year career as a physical education and health teacher in Brooklyn before transferring to Art and Design HS in Manhattan.
He spent the next 25 years, until his retirement in 2002, at Murry Bergtraum HS for Business Careers in Manhattan, where he was also a dean and the school’s athletic director after he stopped coaching.
Barry coached the girls’ basketball team and the boys’ tennis team at Murry Bergtraum. In 1986, his basketball team won the city championship, upsetting multiple powerhouse teams. He helped all five of the senior players that year get into Division I schools with scholarships.
“While winning the New York City Championship together is something I have and will always treasure, Barry made me, and my teammates, feel like champions every single day” said Nancy Kaplan, the captain of that 1986 basketball team, in her eulogy at Barry’s funeral.
Barry received the Public Schools Athletic League Coach of the Year award in 1986 and the Good Guy Award from the New York City Coaches Association/UFT in 2003.
Barry was the chapter leader at Murry Bergtraum for a decade. In 1993 and 2002, Barry received the Ely Trachtenberg Award, which honors UFT chapters and their leaders for carrying on Trachtenberg’s legacy of strong member engagement and advocacy.
“He built that chapter up, which was wonderful, so when he retired, it was a very strong chapter,” Rosenberg said.
Barry worked part-time for the UFT as a salary representative and a night school representative in the union’s Manhattan Borough Office while he was teaching, Rosenberg said. He continued as a night school representative after retiring. Barry joined the Retired Teachers Chapter’s Organizing Committee to help new chapter leaders.
Rosenberg, a retired math teacher, met Barry when they were both teaching at Bergtraum. They had an argument in the school office because two members of the boys’ tennis team, which Barry coached, were also on Rosenberg’s Academic Olympics team, and the meets and matches were at the same time. Barry insisted that tennis took precedence over her activity. “I fell in love with him standing there in the main office,” she said.
Rosenberg said she and Barry were happily married for 35 years. One co-worker at the school told Rosenberg, before she had met Barry, that he was “the smartest person I know.”
Barry had a great sense of humor as well, Rosenberg said. Once, during a stop on a cruise in South America, he held up an umbrella as if he were a tour guide and started speaking, making up facts about the historical landmarks within view as people gathered around and listened. He soon fessed up and told the crowd that he was just kidding.
“He made me laugh every day,” Rosenberg said. “I miss that most of all.”
Kaplan, now an associate provost at St. John’s University, said Barry was instrumental in getting her a scholarship at St. John’s. She was a first-generation college student who thrived at St. John’s and built her career there.
“He is someone that I will always love and be grateful for,” Kaplan said. “He was my coach, my teacher, one of my biggest supporters, my guide and later my friend.”
My wife and I met up with Barry and Leida here shortly after we retired to Las Vegas. We had a fun time reminiscing about our careers in NY. Leida was my pension advisor and Barry often umpired my Park West girls softball games back in the 80’s and 90’s. He was the best ump ever assigned to my games. My players even liked him. As a person, he was as nice a guy as you’d ever want to meet. Leida and Barry were a fun couple to be around. May Barry always RIP.
Barry was an absolute colleague. I and many other teachers attended Barry’s call at UFT Meetings at Murray Bergtraum HS. I have taught at other schools but none were as active and interesting as Barry’s analysis of UFT activities in support of teachers: well organized and informative. And he did have a great sense of humor. RIP, Barry and God bless you Leida!
Thank you for capturing the day of the best basketball game I ever saw in my life!
More important, thanks for remembering a wonderful teacher, coach, and gentleman!
My husband and I, both NYC educators, met Barry and Leida on a Galapagos cruise 24 years ago and have remained very close friends. Over the years we have been fortunate to have gone on many other cruises with them. As part of the entertainment, cruises often have a trivia contest. We always entered and if Barry was on our team we always won. He will be missed
Beautiful