John Bligh
- Retired teacher
Mabel Tannenbaum, a devoted and longtime elementary math teacher at PS 50 in Jamaica, Queens, died of natural causes on Jan. 25, 2024, at the age of 103. She was well-liked and respected by both students and staff, earning awards and accolades over the years.
Mabel was a UFT member for more than 21 years, until her retirement in 1986. She was active politically with the union and delighted in sharing “teaching stories” with her family, Sue Tannenbaum, her daughter-in-law, said. She would bring her young students out when it was snowing and create experiments for them to engage in to pique their curiosity in learning.
Mabel was very proud to have been accepted to Hunter Elementary School, one of the oldest schools for intellectually gifted students in the country. She stayed true to her school, later graduating from Hunter College. “She felt it was one of her best accomplishments and often spoke of her time there and the other students who attended,” Tannenbaum said.
In her later years, Mabel enjoyed participating in a Yiddish group that met weekly, and she and her husband Harry belonged to several different book clubs.
“Mabel lived a long and happy life, full of opera, theater, the synagogue, her Yiddish group and love of her family,” Tannenbaum said.
Mabel is survived by her son Perry and daughter-in-law Sue Tannenbaum; her daughter Iola; granddaughter Ilana and her husband Kris; grandson Larry Liss; granddaughter Miriam Birnbaum and her husband Steve; granddaughter Elisa Liss-Medlin and her husband Macon; and great-grandchildren Tyler and Brynn, Rebecca and Liam, Aryeh, Shana and Leah.
