Teacher Harriet Schwartz dies at 87

Harriet Schwartz, an elementary school teacher in the Plainview-Old Bethpage School District and pioneer in the fight for women's rights under Title IX, died Tuesday at North Shore University Hospital in Plainview from Parkinson's disease complications. She was 87.

Born Harriet Schenk in Manhattan, she grew up in Far Rockaway and graduated from Far Rockaway High School in 1941. At a sweet sixteen party, she met Walter Schwartz and they married in 1943. She lived in Plainview for 45 years.

In the mid-1960s, after starting her family, Schwartz went to college and earned a bachelor of science degree and a master's degree -- both in education -- from Queens College.

"She went to night school," said Carole Schwartz, her daughter, of Wilton, Conn. "I remember she used to take me with her."

Schwartz taught third and fourth grades at Manetto Hill, Oak Drive and Jamaica Avenue schools in Plainview. She also was vice president of the Plainview teachers union.

She was active as a facilitator in the Nassau County Women's Liberation Center, and in the 1970s and early 1980s fought for Title IX, which was the section of the Educational Amendments of 1972 that barred educational institutions from excluding anyone on the basis of sex from participation in any program or activity that received federal money, said Alan Schwartz, her son and an attorney from Dix Hills.

Title IX is best known for providing more funding for women's athletic programs at the high school and collegiate level.

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"She was a modern woman, who transformed herself from the stereotypical, old-fashioned homemaker to a leader in the women's movement in the '70s, while simultaneously raising a loving and devoted family," her son said.

Other survivors include her husband; a sister, Edie Ross, formerly of Muttontown, now of Great Barrington, Mass.; and three grandchildren.

Funeral services were held Thursday at Gutterman's chapel in Woodbury. Burial followed at Wellwood Cemetery in Farmingdale.

The family will sit shiva at the home of Walter Schwartz in Plainview on Sunday from 1 to 6 p.m. and requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the National Parkinson Foundation, 1501 NW 9th Ave., Miami, FL 33136-1494.