ROBERT LOWENSTEIN

LOWENSTEIN--Dr. Robert, 105, of West Orange, NJ, died peacefully at home on January 7, 2013. He lived most of his life in Newark, where he was born on July 13, 1907, before moving to West Orange in 1973. He was predeceased by the love of his life and wife of 64 years, Zelda Lewis Lowenstein, in 2005. Dr. Lowenstein was a courageous and stalwart progressive whose intellect, warmth, and profound integrity made him an inspiration to his family and generations of students, colleagues, and friends. He was a scholar, teacher, and published poet who helped found the Newark Teachers Union in the 1930s. In 2008, he was among the first group of inductees into the Weequahic High School Hall of Fame, where he was honored for his exemplary teaching and chairmanship of the foreign languages department over a long career. He graduated from Newark's South Side High School and received a Bachelor's degree in classical languages from Rutgers University in 1928, a Master's degree in English from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD. in French from the Johns Hopkins University with a thesis on Voltaire. He taught at a boys' high school in France for a year, forming lifelong friendships with some of his students. After earning his doctorate, he began his teaching career in Trenton before coming to Newark, where he taught Romance languages at three high schools. Dr. Lowenstein was a decorated World War II Veteran honored for his service as a Master Sergeant in the Army Air Corps in North Africa, Italy, and Yugoslavia. In 1955, Dr. Lowenstein was one of three Newark teachers fired during the McCarthy era, when the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) came to Newark. He lost his job for six years, with his case going twice to the New Jersey Supreme Court before he was completely vindicated and reinstated in 1961. Among the many students with whom he maintained decades-long friendships was Philip Roth, who used him as a model for the main character's brother Murray, an English teacher, in his novel "I Married a Communist." Like Murray, he was a wise, principled, but down-to-earth teacher who cared deeply about his family and the world in which he lived. After reaching the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 1977, he turned to writing poetry and had more than 100 of his poems published in small magazines such as "California Quarterly," "International Poetry Review," and "Parnassus Literary Journal." Dr. Lowenstein is survived by his children, Amy Lowenstein and her husband, Daniel Schwarzkopf, of Yardley, PA.; Martha Lowenstein Rennie and her husband, Eric, of Cromwell, CT.; and James Lowenstein and his wife, Hadassah, of Fair Lawn, NJ; four beloved grandsons, Matthew and Aaron Rennie and Ben and Luis Lowenstein, and great-granddaughter Alexandra Lee Rennie; his sister-in-law Florence L. Fayer of St. Petersburg, FL.; and numerous cherished nieces and nephews. In addition to his beloved wife, Zelda, he was predeceased by his brother, Dr. Aaron Lowenstein, and sisters Ida Penn, Eleanor Zoob, Evelyn Bernstein, and Jean Dorison. A Memorial Service will be held in the spring. Donations in his memory may be made to the Center for Constitutional Rights, 666 Broadway, 7th Floor, New York, NY 10012 (212-614-6464, www.ccrjustice.org); The Bridge Family Center, 1022 Farmington Ave., West Hartford, CT 06107-2105 (860-521-8035, www.bridgefamilycenter.org); Jewish Family Service of North Jersey (One Pike Drive, Wayne, NJ 07470, 973-595-0111); or AAUW, 111 Sixteenth St. NW, Washington DC 20036 (www.aauw.org).