Helen Felsenthal, teacher, breast cancer volunteer
Helen Felsenthal, 81, of Merion, an educator and two-time breast cancer survivor honored for her volunteer work with other mastectomy patients, died Friday, March 4, of Alzheimer's disease at her second home in Bradley Beach, N.J.
Helen Felsenthal, 81, of Merion, an educator and two-time breast cancer survivor honored for her volunteer work with other mastectomy patients, died Friday, March 4, of Alzheimer's disease at her second home in Bradley Beach, N.J.
A resident of Philadelphia since 1973, Dr. Felsenthal taught at every level - from elementary school to graduate education at the University of Pennsylvania, said her husband, Norman.
Born and reared in Pittsburgh, she was the seventh of eight children and the only one to pursue higher education. Dr. Felsenthal graduated from Western College in Oxford, Ohio, with a bachelor's degree in education.
She then moved to San Diego and taught third grade while earning a master's degree in counseling at San Diego State University.
Dr. Felsenthal served as a school social worker in San Diego before moving to Iowa City, Iowa, to pursue advanced graduate study in educational psychology at the University of Iowa.
After receiving a doctoral degree, she became a professor at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Ind., teaching courses in educational psychology and remedial reading.
Dr. Felsenthal moved to Philadelphia in 1973 to direct a language arts program at Research for Better Schools, a federally funded curriculum development laboratory. She also was coauthor of a textbook in the Houghton Mifflin language arts series.
Her next career move took her to the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, where she was an administrator in the Psychology in Education division. She taught several courses and supervised doctoral dissertations.
Her crowning achievement, however, was creation of a state-approved program that allowed students to become certified as special education teachers. In 1994, after 15 years at Penn, she took early retirement when university officials changed that program without her consent, according to a news article in the Daily Pennsylvanian. The matter was settled out of court.
Undaunted, Dr. Felsenthal set up a private practice in Wayne as a certified school psychologist. She counseled and evaluated adolescents, and wrote IEPs, or individualized education programs, for students with learning difficulties.
At 34, Dr. Felsenthal had been diagnosed with breast cancer; her treatment included a radical mastectomy. She survived a second bout of breast cancer a few years later, and underwent reconstructive surgery in 1978.
Her experiences with breast cancer and reconstruction prompted Dr. Felsenthal to join the American Cancer Society's Reach to Recovery Program, Philadelphia Chapter, which honored her for her volunteer work.
She made hospital visits to women who had just had surgery, offering them encouragement and demonstrating by her example that breast cancer surgery need not be debilitating or disfiguring.
In 1992, she was selected to be one of three women representing the United States at an international conference on breast cancer in Trieste, Italy. A year later, she was chosen to deliver the keynote address at the same conference in Barcelona, Spain.
Dr. Felsenthal received the distinguished alumna award for service from Western College, her alma mater, in the 1990s.
She met her husband, Norman, on a blind date during senior year in college. He also became a university professor. They were married 58 years.
"She was truly a remarkable woman who touched so many lives. She was brilliant, loyal, kind, empathetic, a wonderful mother, and an accomplished professional," he said.
Besides her husband, she is survived by a daughter, Kim Rosenblum; a son, David; five grandchildren; and two sisters.
A memorial service will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, April 17, at the Hillel Center on the Penn campus, 215 S. 39th Street, Philadelphia.
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