Birth date: May 5, 1934 Death date: Jan 22, 2019
After 84 years filled with love and Laughter, Leonard Dinnerstein, distinguished historian, beloved husband, father, brother, father-in-law, zeyde, uncle, cousin and friend died on Tuesday, January 22, 2019. Born on May 5, 1934 in Read Obituary
Leonard was a universal friend and mentor. To a then younger scholar, he never failed to share advice or guidance. His suggestion immeasurably improved my work.
I also never will forget the day he telephoned into my Immigration History class. Afterwards, the students could not stop talking about "that wonderful man" and his keen insights about immigration history.
Leonard, you will be missed.
Bob Zeidel
My sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family of a great historian of the Jewish experience in America and expert on the Leo Frank case, who helped pave the way for the 1986 posthumous pardon of Frank, the 1988 miniseries "The Murder of Mary Phagan" on NBC, and ultimately "And The Dead Shall Rise," by Steve Oney. Leonard Dinnerstein, may you rest in peace for a life well lived and work well done.
To the family of Professor Dinnerstein:
During my service, in the intensely hot Tucson summer of 1989, as a visiting professor attached to the Linguistic Society of America Linguistic Institute that took place on the U of A campus, I had the distinct privilege of occupying Prof. D's office, with a salubriously cool climate but more importantly with an ever distracting collection of interesting books that taught me much about Jews in America. His intended kindness -- letting me avail myself of his office for six weeks or so -- and his unintended kindness -- educating me via his office library in matters close to my identity -- have remained with me ever since.
Reading the Washington Post and New York Times obituaries have added to my understanding of his eminence as well as his kindness.
Michael Silverstein
Charles F. Grey Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology, Linguistics, and Psychology,
University of Chicago
Professor Dinnerstein was my History and Ethnic studies teacher in College from 1973-1977. He was by far the best teacher I ever had and I took every class he taught. His lectures were unparalleled. He was exciting, demonstrative, captivating and motivating. I brought my mother to sit in on a class and she was as taken with him as I. His booming and yet modulated voice made learning exciting. And, he was kind and helpful if you needed to discuss a class or a topic. I will never forget going to his office which door was adorned with the cover of the New Yorker featuring the map of the world from the vantage point of his beloved New York. Because of him, I love that cover and have it hanging in my home to remind me of how it was to learn from the great man from a great city.
I asked professor Dinnerstein to write one of my recommendations for Law School. He honored me with that and a comment that showed me how caring and selfless he was. Strong, opinionated but humble, supportive and proud.
I have thought fondly of Professor Dinnerstein over the past 45 years and will remember his contribution to my education and my life forever. Rest well and thank you for everything. To his family, thank you for sharing him with us, his students. And to those of you who never had the honor of taking one of his classes, I am so sorry. He was one of a kind.
I may be the only woman in Tucson who met Leonard before I met Myra.when Leonard and I shared a faculty office at City College of New York in the history department and I was a"lecturer" because I was still a history graduate student at Columbia. Must have been no later than 1965. Myra of course was the draw; we were proto feminists before there was a Second Wave. And when I re-located to Arizona, I found them co-hosting every feminist event for the first decades and Leonard modeled (without realizing it) the perfect spouse. Of his books, I only knew the Leo Frank story but marveled at Leonard's commitment and skill in researching it.
You will be missed, Leonard. By all.
Sheila Tobias
Leonard and I were friends for almost 60 years, half of them a continent apart. Young men from The Bronx and Queens, we conquered Columbia fueled by John Jay coffee and never ending "wise" and meaningful talk. Len was generous, thoughtful and a distinguished historian, but never ceased to be a mentor and confidant. He unfailingly remembered all the important dates in my life and could "work a room" better than any Madison Ave. pro. We have lost a real mensch. Josette and I send our deepest sympathy to Myra and the children. George Lankevich
D-day 1945
I will never forget how Leonard greeted me at the door whenever I visited the Dinnerstein home (between 1978 and 2008 and beyond): "ELIANA! So good to see you!" he would say, in his exhuberant, smiling and welcoming way.
He was always fun to be around, ready with a joke and a laugh.
May he rest in peace.
