Dr. Rosemary Horowitz z’’l: In Memoriam

Prof. Romary Horowitz z’’l giving a paper at the Center-co-organized conference on Holocaust testimony in Akko, Israel

​In early August before the start of the fall term, the Appalachian community and the Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies lost its former director Dr. Rosemary Horowitz z’’l after a short, severe illness. A member of Appalachian State’s faculty for more than a quarter century, Dr. Horowitz was a highly-committed Holocaust educator and English professor – greatly admired by her students and colleagues alike – an accomplished scholar, patron of the arts, and a fierce opponent of antisemitism and any form of hostility against Israel. Dr. Horowitz dedicated her first major work, her 1995 study of Yisker Bikher, “to the six million”—a dedication that powerfully captured one of the central commitments of her life and career.

Dr. Horowitz was born to Holocaust survivors and spent the first decades of her life mainly in the Northeastern United States. She earned a BA in English and Education from Brooklyn College in the 1970s and subsequently worked as a writer, editor, trainer and board member for several organizations. She returned to school and was bestowed a Doctor of Education degree from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in 1995. Her remarkable thesis, which she wrote under the direction of renowned Teaching and Learning Professor David Bloome, examined the “Literacy and Cultural Transmission in the Reading, Writing, and Rewriting of Yisker Bikher.” In the course of her career, Dr. Horowitz became one of the foremost experts on Yisker Bikher, speaking and publishing widely on the topic. Dr. Horowitz joined the faculty of the English Department at Appalachian State University in 1995. From the beginning, she engaged in and promoted Holocaust studies and education at her chosen academic home. Since its inception in 2002, Dr. Horowitz had played a leading role at Appalachian’s Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies. In 2006, she became the Center’s co-director, a position she held until 2013. Over the years, Dr. Horowitz made immeasurable contributions and helped build the Center. Her critically important work reached from grant writing—securing, among others, the support of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany—to co-leading and expanding the acclaimed annual Martin and Doris Rosen Summer Symposium on Remembering the Holocaust to introducing and committing countless students, faculty, and community members to the work of the Center. In recognition of this work, she was named the interim Leon Levine Distinguished Professor of Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies in 2012—the first scholar to hold the newly-established position. She served on every Center board and committee until shortly before her passing.

A devoted teacher, Dr. Horowitz was held in the highest esteem by her students at Appalachian. In acknowledgment of her love and patronage of the arts, two former students recently named an innovative new art vending machine at Boone’s popular Espresso News coffee shop “Rosemary.” All the while, Dr. Horowitz’s numerous contributions and activities were never limited to the Appalachian campus. To name but a few, she worked with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., and was a long-time supporter of the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City. For several years, Dr. Horowitz also served on the NC Council on the Holocaust in Raleigh, NC. She was one of the pillars of the Jewish Community in Boone, playing a key role on the board and in the Sisterhood of the local Temple of the High Country and working with the Havurah for many years.

All along, she remained a devoted researcher and scholar. In addition to her revised dissertation, Dr. Horowitz’s most noteworthy publications include the edited collection Memorial Books of Eastern European Jewry: Essays on the History and Meanings of Yizker Volumes (2011) and Women Writers of Yiddish Literature (2015), which Choice “highly recommended.” 

The words of Appalachian State Prof. emerita Zohara Boyd, a Holocaust child survivor and another influential former Center director who worked closely with her, offer a beautifully fitting summary, 
“Rosemary was a brilliant and dedicated scholar, wonderful friend, person of good humor, kindness, and no pretensions. Appalachian is poorer for her loss, and her friends are bereft.” 

The Center continues to celebrate her life, work, and immeasurable contributions in events throughout the academic year, culminating with a conference in her honor in the summer of 2022. Finally, the Center has launched an initiative to introduce the Annual Rosemary Horowitz Memorial Lecture in Israel, Yiddish, Jewish and Holocaust Studies. We are calling on everyone to make a donation in support of this endowed lecture.
    
​To do so, please click here and use a credit card, send a check to the Appalachian State Foundation; Appalachian State Box 32014; Boone, NC 28608 (Please add Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies: Rosemary Horowitz Lecture) or contact CAS Director of Development Carey Fissel at 828.262.7622 or fisselcm@appstate.edu. This annual lecture is yet another way to secure the lasting impact of our deceased dear friend, colleague and mentor and her remarkable work. Thank you!