Dorothy "Dot" Fleisher

Dot Fleisher was born Dorothy Ann Druzinsky on March 14th, 1926, into a musical family in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father, Louis, played violin and viola in the St Louis Symphony, and her mother, Nettie Dorn, played piano and harp. Both Nettie and Louie had storied musical careers, playing in orchestras, jazz ensembles, on Broadway, and touring the country, with many of the greatest musicians and artists of the day. Dot's older brother Eddie, after starting on harp with his mother as his first teacher, studied with the famous harpist Carlos Salzedo at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. After serving a tour in the army - these were the war years - and then stints in the Pittsburgh and Detroit Symphonies, Eddie became the principal harpist in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and one of the great orchestral harpists of his era. Dot did attempt musical studies, but she did not have the interest, or as she claimed, the talent - she could not compete with Eddie, who had perfect pitch, better than a photographic memory, and like their parents, extraordinary musical talent. Instead, her life held its own unique direction and remarkable purpose.

Dot attended Soldan High School in St Louis and was the Senior Secretary of her graduating class in 1943, graduating with many honors. She attended Washington University in St Louis for two years until the family moved to New York City for musical opportunities, where Dot attended New York University and graduated in 1947 with a degree in Social Work and a minor in Psychology. Not yet clear which direction she would take, Dot took the Police Officer Test, but before the results came back she decided to head to Europe. After a several-week bicycle adventure through the Pyrenees with two friends, Dot ended her trip in Paris.

Through a musician friend from St Louis who was living in Paris at the time, Dot was introduced to a pianist named Leon Fleisher. Dot was intelligent, witty, charming, down-to-earth, and fun, and she was strikingly beautiful, with long wavy auburn hair. (A story she was fond of telling, she once applied to work as a secretary in the office of a plastic surgeon in New York - but declined the job when the surgeon's offer came with the condition that she tell the prospective clients he "did her nose".)

With her unique upbringing Dot was deeply at-home in the world of music and the arts. She and Leon fell in love quickly. They returned to the States to win their families' approvals for their engagement. Dot came back first to earn money, but there was a temporary delay in the plan when she was diagnosed with tuberculosis and sent to a sanitorium in the Adirondacks for several months. Finally the families met, and when Leon's mother presented to Nettie a list of all the things her son required in a wife, Nettie's retort was, "Mrs. Fleisher, do you believe there is a girl alive in this world today who possesses all those qualities?!" Leon and Dot were wed in New York City in December of 1951, and soon returned to make a home in Paris as Mr. and Mrs. Leon Fleisher.

Not long after, Leon entered the prestigious Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. At a certain point in the competition the contestants were cloistered away for an entire week in one of the Queen's chateaus to learn new repertoire. Dot would sneak over to the chateau to see Leon for a clandestine meeting at the gate. Leon won the competition's coveted first prize, and many European concert engagements followed. These were happy and exciting times for the Fleishers. They lived in Paris, then the Netherlands, and then several more years were spent in Rome. Dot traveled with Leon on concert tours all through Europe, and South America. Their first two children, Deborah and Dickie, were born during these European years, with Dot returning to the US for their births. Eventually the Fleishers decided to return to the United States. As Leon's career took off he was touring and concertizing more and more, and with Dot having the principal responsibility of taking care of the children, she started to miss having her family nearby. They returned to New York City, and soon moved to a house in Yorktown Heights in Westchester County. LIFE magazine was preparing to publish a lengthy article on Dot, with a photographer shadowing her for several months taking portraits of her and the family, to showcase her colorful life as the wife of a rising star concert pianist. But it was not long after their third child, Leah, was born that Leon suddenly left the marriage and the family, and Dot was left to raise three small children on her own.

Never one to be a victim of circumstance, Dot met the challenges of single parenting head-on, with resolve, courage and tremendous strength. Through the influence of friends she began to spend time with the children on Martha's Vineyard, eventually buying a small summer house in Chilmark. There was a vibrant and creative community on the Vineyard and the family enjoyed close friendships there, spending many happy and carefree summers. Dot sold the Yorktown Heights house and moved the family back into Manhattan. Raising her children in the city Dot witnessed rising violence in the public schools. The year was 1965, and she quickly decided to follow her parents' lead and moved the family to Miami Beach, Florida, where Nettie and Louie had recently "retired" to the music scene of South Florida. There life took on a decidedly new outlook for the family. The children began studying music with their grandparents. Dot volunteered at the local hospital, Mt Sinai, and became head of the Candy Striper Service Group. She worked in an administrative capacity in the emergency room. When Louie passed away unexpectedly, Nettie moved in with the family. Dot was always very involved with her children's school activities, for years running the supply store at the elementary, junior and senior high schools, and she held consecutive turns as President of the PTA. When her youngest graduated from Miami Beach Senior High in 1977, Dot also graduated from her service to the school community and the PTA.

Dot always encouraged her children to be independent, to follow their hearts, to travel and enjoy adventure, and to be happy. She was also known to say, "Happiness is having all your children in the same time zone!" A friend and neighbor had long been encouraging her to enroll at the public education massage therapy program at Lindsey Hopkins in downtown Miami, to get trained as a therapist. Now that her children needed less of her time and attention, she embarked on what was to become an enormously successful and "second" career in Massage Therapy and Colonic Irrigation. Dot immediately fell in love with her new direction in life. She had tremendous interest and curiosity in the field of health and wellness, loved helping people, and felt she could make a difference in people's lives. Her 'handle' was "Healthqueen". After her training, she quickly became busy as a licensed massage and colon therapist. She took short term positions as a massage therapist on cruise ships to the Caribbean and enjoyed the travel. Her favorite cruise adventure was sailing through the Panama Canal. Dot was very active in her professional associations and became the President of the Dade County chapter of the Florida State Massage Therapy Association, organizing conferences and conventions. She then became the President of the Florida State Massage Therapy Association, doubling her duties for several years, and following that she became a member of the Florida Board of Massage Therapy. She was promoted to Chairman of the Florida Massage Therapy Board when 6 months later the governorship of the State of Florida changed political parties and all the Board Members were reassigned. Dot was also a founding member of the International Association for Colon Hydrotherapy.

Dot was famous for her potluck pool parties at her wonderful house on the Venetian Causeway overlooking Biscayne Bay, which she bought with her mother Nettie in 1976, and which was a dream come true for them. When the artist Christo surrounded the Islands in the Bay with bright pink fabric, one of the surrounded islands was directly across the Bay at the back of Dot's house, and she and Nettie watched the whole installation unfold with binoculars from their kitchen picture window. They also went up in a helicopter to view the entire Surrounded Islands installation across the Bay on a Friday the 13th, thumbing their noses at superstition. Dot and Nettie lived together happily at the "Venetian Spa" house until Nettie passed away in 1997 at the age of 91. Dot kept Nettie's ashes on a credenza in the dining room and whenever she walked by, she would address the box saying, "Hello, Mother".

Dot studied natural and alternative health modalities over many years, employing herbal remedies and fasting protocols, and helping thousands of clients over a nearly 40-year span of practice, giving massage therapy and colonic irrigation. She also offered a kind, patient, and considerate ear to all who came to her. She was deeply generous, with an enormous and compassionate heart - a trusted confidante. She often treated those who could not afford her services with reduced or no fees at all. She was a genuinely giving and caring friend, taking into her home at different times several of her friends who had end-stage cancer and were without resources to care for themselves. Dot was beloved by her clientele and treated a wide swath of individuals, including world class athletes, actors and movie industry types, rock stars, and media celebrities. One famous author and motivational speaker crowned Dot, "the best colon therapist in the world!" She continued her work, principally as a colon therapist, helping others until she retired at the age of 93.

Dot had a passion for all the arts. She was a great lover of opera and ballet, and volunteered as an usher at most of the area performing arts centers and theatres, over many years of living in Miami. She loved the bustling cultural life of the metropolitan area, sometimes spending several nights of every week ushering at different venues. One time at a performance at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts downtown, Dot was found surreptitiously folding protest literature into the concert programs during a musicians' union strike. Her harpist daughter Deborah was playing in the concert, while her harpist son Dickie was on the strike line outside!

Dot was also an active member of the local chapter of the Gray Panthers and was responsible for organizing many of the chapter's events and activities.

In 2020 at the age of 94, the first year of the Covid pandemic, Dot left Miami for Naples to move in with her son Dickie. For Dickie it was an honor to be able to help take care of his mother. For four years, although she missed her Miami life and friends, Dot was thrilled to be living with her "Sonny-boy" and more than content with her life. Whenever asked how she was, she would smile and say how wonderful life is and how happy she was. She buoyed up everyone who came into her company, always appreciative of people's help and ministrations. Her physical therapist in Naples - who Dot affectionately dubbed "Tuffy" for always putting her through her paces - noted that Dot and Dickie were like "two peas in a pod".

Dot was beautiful, inside and out. She was a second mother to many - her intergenerational friends, her children's friends, and her clients. Everyone enjoyed her warmth, her humor, her compassion, her intelligence, her charm, and her wit. She adored her children and her one grandchild, Lena, and they adored her back. In her inimitable and just way, she said, "I love all my children equally!" And she told her children, "I will always be with you".

Dot passed away at the age of 98 on October 2nd, 2024. She was predeceased by her oldest daughter, Deborah, by three days. In her characteristically thoughtful, kind, and compassionate way, she waited for Deborah. She is survived by her son Dickie (Richard), daughter Leah, granddaughter Lena, and nephews Robert, Michael and Paul Druzinsky.