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Rose Zimbardo Obituary
1932 - 2015
Our beloved Rosie died in peace at the age of 83, on October 25, surrounded by her son and his family in Davis, California.Rose was born and raised in Brooklyn, the only child of Angie and Albert Abdelnour. She attended Brooklyn College and then Yale University, where she received her doctorate in English Literature in 1960. She had a long and illustrious academic career as a professor at City College of New York, the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the English Department of the University of San Francisco, the Fromm Institute, and the St. Ignatius Institute.
Rose was an intellectual giant who turned her energies into becoming a highly celebrated and dedicated teacher of an enormous and varied range of subjects -- from Shakespeare and ancient through modern drama to major historical shifts in human thinking. From the moment she stepped into the classroom until 54 years later, when she retired, Rose brought a joyous but tough energy to teaching her students, whom she loved. They returned her respect and love, and Rose maintained life-long friendships with many of them. For her, teaching was not work; it was challenging yet always exhilarating intellectual interplay with her students. Rose received "Excellence in Teaching" Awards from both Stony Brook and the University of San Francisco.
Underlying her brilliant teaching was Rose's earnest scholarship. Her research and 10 books about Shakespearean comedies, Tolkien, George Bernard Shaw, Restoration England, and other areas were widely viewed as path-breaking. Her scholarship also expressed her personal philosophy that life veers more into comedy than tragedy. As Rose wrote, "Mankind is immortal in the comic perspective not by virtue of man's subjugation of nature but by virtue of man's subjection to it. The 'fall' in tragedy ends in death; the fall in comedy ends in bed, where, by nature's arithmetic, one and one make a brand new one."
Rose was preceded in death by her husband of 27 years, Martin Stevens, who was also a professor of English and a dean at Baruch College in New York. She is survived by her son, Adam Zimbardo (from her first marriage to Philip Zimbardo), and also by her two grandchildren, Philip John ("Panda") and Victoria Leigh ("Bunny") Zimbardo, who were the joy of her life and the center of her universe.
A memorial service in Rose's honor will be held at the Most Holy Redeemer Church in San Francisco, 100 Diamond Street, at 10:00am on November 14, 2015, with a reception to follow. In lieu of flowers, contributions to her memory may be made to either Most Holy Redeemer Church or the Middle East Children's Alliance: www.mecaforpeace.org.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Memories and Condolences
for Rose Zimbardo
Don Biggers
November 22, 2024
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.
Barry Fruchter
October 24, 2024
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!
Terese Coe
August 22, 2023
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 memory (she used no lecture notes in class), but I still recall things she said to the class or me. The long delay in commenting here is simply bc I had not heard, and have had a very busy life as writer, mother, critic, and traveler.
Barry Fruchter
October 24, 2020
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.
Barry and Amber love you, Rose
Barry Fruchter
January 14, 2020
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.
July 31, 2019
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.
Ralph Nazareth
July 8, 2019
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 fine!" before she closed the door behind her. It was a moment of grace. Grace marked her life. Grace is what she's left behind. I consider her one of the greatest gifs in my life. Thank you, Rose!
Judy Klotz
September 22, 2017
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..
Jim Fairhall
April 20, 2017
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 extraordinary teacher.
Veronica McGinley
March 29, 2016
Rose was my professor for several classes when I was at Stony Brook. More importantly, she was an inspiration. My father was dying (and my mother already dead) when I was an undergraduate. Her kindness and advice during that time kept me in college. I saw this notice because all these years later, I still think of her and searched her name. I am so sorry for her family. She was a treasure and her gifts to the world will ripple through time.
Peter Morrison
March 18, 2016
Rose was my dissertation director at Stony Brook, in the late seventies. She fueled in me an exciting research project for the medieval parallels between Shakespeare's Henriad and the Mystery Plays. At 78, I'm still teaching the Lancastrian Tetralogy, and my approach is strongly influenced by Rose's insights.
Rose, I miss you and your extraordinary scholarship.
Peter (George) Morrison
Sonia Arora
January 5, 2016
I was searching for my notes on Macbeth as my 13 year old son is reading the play in school. Still after 25 years, I have my notebook with Rose Zimbardo's brilliant lectures. I looked her up today thinking I'd let her know. And I find this obit. Sorry to have not said goodbye. What a brilliant scholar and humane intellectual.
Richard Jaccoma
December 5, 2015
I was Rose Zimbardo's student in the early 1960s at CCNY. As Eric has so precisely stated below "she opened her home as well as her heart to her students." Rose's teaching was brilliant. Inspired. Engaging. Learned of her death recently only because was speaking of her with a good friend met in her class 50+ years ago. How many of your greatest teachers do you still recall and speak fondly of? Rose was the best: a life well-lived.
Lucia Sander
November 9, 2015
The first time I met Rose, as a student from Brazil at Stony Brook, I came to her office and asked: Professor Zimbardo? She said: Call me Rose. We became friends. With her wisdom she gave me encouragement, confidence, and much more. I came back to Brazil, she went to San Francisco where I visited her once. She was in my committee, now she is in my heart, and she will stay there as someone who made a difference not only in my academic life.
Lucia Sander
November 6, 2015
I was sorry to learn of Prof. Zimbardo's passing. I took classes from her at Fromm and was always delighted with her wit and her unique analyses of the works we were reading. I will always treasure the memory of her classes.
Ann Jorgensen
Steven Urkowitz
November 2, 2015
Rose was my first English teacher at CCNY. She showed me that the intellectual joys and sensuous delights of great art were for kids from the Bronx, too. In my 50 years of teaching, she's been my model of what might happen in a classroom. I loved her then, I still do.
William Gargan
November 2, 2015
An English major at Stony Brook, I enrolled in a senior honors seminar Rose taught in 1971-72 on the subject of Tragedy & Comedy. She was an inspiring teacher, who always sought to bring out the best in each and every one of her students. She sometimes held classes in her home, where she served us wine and sandwiches, helping to create a deeper feeling of community among us. Her spirit lives on in all of the students she touched over her long and distinguished career.
Eric Lowenkron
November 1, 2015
I was her student in the early 1960s. She opened her home as well as her heart to her students and made us feel like her friends. Rest in peace, dear Rose
Gary Horowitz
October 31, 2015
Rose Zimbardo was my English lit professor at City College when I was a freshman in 1958-59. I remember her lecturing on Leda and the Swan- it opened my eyes and mind to a sophisticated approach to literature- I owe so much to her. I now reside in SF in retirement- I regret my failure to see her and thank her for her contribution to my life.
Gary Horowitz
October 31, 2015
I will remember Rose as a fellow parishioner at Most Holy Redeemer parish in The Castro in San Francisco. Rose was a member of the Lector Ministry always proclaiming The Word with great passion and presence, yet in her soft and gentle way. But it was clear that Rose was her own person and stood strong for what she believed. We will miss you, Rose. God has picked a rose out of His garden to adorn heaven for eternity.
My heart felt condolences to Rose's family.
In Sympathy,
Bill Osuna
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