Rose Zimbardo

I remember Rose from the early 1970's as a 10 year old child because I was friends with her son. Rose was such a sweet person who really loved her son. I most remember her as a very caring mother who wanted the best for her son. I am truly honored that I knew her.

Rose was my trusted friend and dissertation advisor at SUNY Stony Brook, 1967-77. She saw me through a very difficult period in my family life and always listened actively and empathetically to my many issues. She was absolutely wonderful!

Yes, she was an intellectual giant, and her dramatic lit courses at CCNY c. 1961-4 always filled up quickly. She and her husband Philip not only created a short classroom drama that we students believed was real life, for purposes of discussion, but she was not afraid to give personal advice, advice that was extremely helpful to me, back then and later on, when I was a drama critic in Salt Lake City and used to send her my clippings. She was not only a brilliant professor who spoke from...

She introduced me to whole new world. With the possible exception of Irma Brandeis, Rose was responsible for the shape of my thought more than any other person.

Rose Zimbardo observed and shepherded many of my efforts to complete my PhD in English. She also became my trusted friend and advisor at several turning points in my life. I miss her dearly.

Rose Zimbardo was one of the most important people in my life. She encouraged me to pursue graduate studies, reminding me that scholarship requires deep humanity, and she rescued me when sexism almost defeated my bid for a Ph.D. She was the most influential of all my teachers, and her ideas became the basis of my own. Rest in peace beloved, Rosie. I am sorry to be writing this so late. Love in the eternity you believed in, Laurel Brett, Ph.D.

Fresh from India in 1968, I couldn't have done better than run into Rose at Stony Brook. Her warmth and generosity were the best possible portal to the US at a turbulent time. She eventually became my dissertation advisor. I cannot forget the moment when midway through my oral defense, Rose, who had to leave for JFK, realizing how nervous I'd be, exposed to the critical gaze of heavyweights such as Altizer, Erdman, Kranidas & Levine around the table, said aloud, "Sweetheart, you're doing just...

I was fortunate to be in Rose's CCNY 2-semester class of 1965-6 which studied great classics, concluding with Tolkien under the trees in May. Besides my enduring friendship with her, classmates of that year and successive years became dear friends, sharing the bond of the joy and wisdom from her teaching. She also taught incisive logic and organization in writing and encouraged imagination..

Rose was my first professor in the Ph.D. program at Stony Brook back in the 1980s. She was extraordinarily generous in her comments on papers and in drawing me out. I remember my surprise and gratitude when she took me and a fellow student to the Three Village Inn and paid for our dinners. She must have faced many challenges as a young woman on her road to becoming a professor, but she wore her position and her learning lightly. I wish I'd appreciated her better at the time. An...