Harvey Brody, former teacher at Valley Stream North High School, dies at 90

Beloved educator, man of faith and an advocate for youth and animals: that is how family and friends remembered Harvey Brody.

Brody, a pioneering educator from Roslyn, died of natural causes at St. Francis Hospital in Flower Hill on Feb. 25. He was 90.

Friends and family alike remembered him as a warm and wise man who valued family and order. The noted educator was the president of the Valley Stream Teachers Association in the 1960s, taught history at Valley Stream North High School and served as the district’s director of media services, his family said.

His experience in the Valley Stream district, leading the effort to use technology, led to him playing a key role in establishing one of the first distance-learning programs in New York State in 1989, his stepson Robert Deutsch said. The program allowed students taking specialized courses in multiple districts to do so together via a live video feed.

"It was a breakthrough in education at the time," said Deutsch, of Needham, Massachusetts.

Brody led with a commitment to his community. He served as a volunteer board member and eventually president of Hope For Youth, a Long Island nonprofit supporting at-risk children and families, Deutsch said.

Brody was a devout Jewish man and leaves an extensive library on World War II and the Holocaust, Deutsch said. He was also a movie buff and avid photographer.

He could be quite convincing, said his widow, Barbara Deutsch, a child and adolescent psychiatrist.

When they met, she didn’t think it would work out. She had four cats and he was allergic to felines. He lived a kosher lifestyle while she did not. But his kindness and generosity won her over. They married in 2008.

"He was just a rock-solid, stand-up person in his life," she said. "He was just good to everyone; he was a terrific person."

Retired educator Manfred Korman agreed. The Great Neck resident knew Brody for at least 20 years through a synagogue in North Bellmore they both attended, and a group centered on retired men dining out. He said Brody was the type of person you would seek out if you needed an adviser or needed a thoughtful response to a question.

"He was such a genuine human being, honest and always looking to see how to be fair about things," Korman said. "You couldn’t help but like the man."

Harvey Brody was born on April 29, 1934, in Albany to Sam and Libby Brody. He earned bachelor's and master’s degrees from SUNY Albany and later completed an additional master’s degree from Syracuse University, his family said.

In addition to his widow and Robert Deutsch, he is survived by his children, David Rothenberg, of Venice, California, Debra Rothenberg of Portland, Maine, and Daniel Rothenberg, of Cambodia; another stepson, David Deutsch of Marblehead, Massachusetts; and several grandchildren.

In 2000, he was predeceased by his wife Joyce Rothenberg, whom he married in 1974 and helped to raise her children, Robert Deutsch said.

Services were held Feb. 26 at Star of David Memorial Chapels in West Babylon. He is interred at Wellwood Cemetery in West Babylon.