Pauline Schwartz

January 9, 1919 - March 1, 2018

Pauline Schwartz passed away peacefully on March 1, 2018 at 99 years of age.

She was born in Akron, Ohio as the youngest of 10 children. When the Great Depression hit, her family moved to Los Angeles, hoping to find better employment opportunities. Unfortunately, things were just as bad in California, and her family struggled mightily. Her older brothers were forced to drop out of high school to support the family, which disappointed her hard-working mother who hoped they would attend college. Things did not look that much better for Pauline when she started high school at Poly High in Los Angeles where only 2% of students went onto enroll in college.

Pauline thrived at Poly. She excelled scholastically and was voted the most popular in her large high school class. She was elected Vice President of the student body where she became close friends with Tom Bradley (President of the student body), who later was a celebrated Mayor of Los Angeles. After graduating high school, Pauline attended UCLA for a year while living at home and then transferred to UC Berkeley to achieve a greater measure of independence from her family.

During her first semester at Cal, she sat down next to her future husband, Ariah Schwartz, in Psychology 1A. They were married 3 months later, a marriage that lasted 69 years until Ariah passed away in 2008. After college, Ariah began medical school at UCSF. Pauline liked the idea of working with families, so she enrolled in social work school at Cal.

When World War II broke out, Ariah was transferred to a military hospital in Detroit. Pauline continued her social work studies at University of Michigan where she received her MSW. Ariah was then shipped off to serve in the North Atlantic and Pauline returned to California for the remainder of the war. In San Francisco, she worked inspecting bomb casings alongside Helen Bradley (daughter of General Omar Bradley).

When Ariah returned, he started his Ophthalmology training at UCSF and Pauline took over the directorship of the Sunset Co-op Nursery School from 1950-54. She loved this job working closely with the parents and children. Her passion for early childhood education would later emerge as she pursued more education, but she put all that to the side to begin raising her four children.

In 1956, Pauline and Ariah moved the family to the Peninsula. Pauline loved it there. The climate, their beautiful home designed by the Cal architect, William Wurster, and of course, her many friends all made for an ideal setting devoid of the hardships she and Ariah had overcome during the Depression and War. Despite all these comforts, Pauline’s intellectual curiosity and passion for childhood education were not dampened. At the age 43, she enrolled in the Graduate Education Program at Stanford. They had an age restriction at the time, not admitting anyone over the age of 40, but once they got to know Pauline, it was waived.

After receiving her PhD, she taught child development for several years at San Jose State and San Francisco State Universities, but soon elected to return to working directly with children. She took up a leadership position at the Holy Family Day Home nursery school in the Mission District of San Francisco where she worked tirelessly for 7 years.

After retiring, Pauline was reading the SF Chronicle one morning and noticed an ad to become a docent at the De Young Museum in San Francisco. She applied, was accepted, and thus began an entirely new career lasting nearly 30 years as a docent at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. She loved learning about the art, leading tours, and was surprised to develop a whole new and large group of close friends. They would meet up for weekly seminars, coffee at the museum cafes, and even travel abroad to study art. Pauline’s bookshelves were full of new art books, which she studied with the passion of a graduate student. Her work at the museum would only stop when tragically, she lost her sight at age 96 years old.

In 2000, Ariah and Pauline decided to give up their home and move up to the San Francisco Towers, a residential community of seniors with life-care facilities. It was a difficult move initially for Pauline, because she loved her life on the Peninsula, but she adapted quickly to her new residence. She was pleased to find the Towers had a vibrant senior group eager to continue learning. And like every other group she had encountered, Pauline made many close friends. She organized a series of monthly docent lectures there, which she ran until the week before she passed away. Even with her loss of sight, she would listen to DVDs about the artists or have a friend read from art books so she could prepare introductions to the docent speakers. Her series became a favorite for the Towers residents. She also started a popular short story club at the Towers, recruiting a talented teacher for Cal to lead the group. Again, all this was accomplished after she had lost nearly all her vision. She was beloved at the Towers, where she resided for 18 years. Her birthday parties were huge events and the residents spoke adoringly of her to her children. Because her four children all lived close to the Towers, they were able to get together every Sunday for brunch there, a tradition that lasted all 18 years. Her life in San Francisco was also enriched by her loyal rescue dog, Kramer, whom she enjoyed having constantly by her side.

Pauline was a remarkable person: warm, charming, intelligent, compassionate, and selfless. She was always thinking of others, helping them in times of trouble, writing them note of thanks, or buying a small gift to raise their spirits. She gave of herself in so many ways, to her family, her many, many friends, her students, those lucky enough to go on an art tour with her, and so many more whose spirits she lifted in her day to day life. We are so saddened to lose her, but grateful we could spend so many happy years together.

She is survived by her four children, Nina Schwartz, MD, Eric Schwartz, Daniel Schwartz, MD, David Schwartz, and her grandson, Frank Brodie MD and his wife Rachel (Rosenheck) Brodie, MD.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to:

Docent Council Commemorative fund in memory of Pauline Schwartz

Attn: Treasurers: Maureen Murray Fox/ Cynthia Inaba c/o Docent Council De Young Museum 51 Hagiwara Tea Garden Drive

San Francisco, CA 94118