Susaneelman Otterbourg

Susaneelman Otterbourg died in Durham on March 7, 2011 after a year-long bout with cancer. Born ineew York City to Ruth and Morris Delman, Susan, 76, attended PS 166, Riverdale Country School and Smith College cum laude. She subsequently received several master's degrees in education from Queens College, William Paterson College, and masters and doctorate degrees from Teachers College at Columbia Uneersity. Susan, a special educationeeacher as well as a licensed teacher at the K-12 level, worked as a teacher and administrator for nearly 20 years with the New York City and the Ridgewood, NJ school systems. Prior to getting her doctorate degree, she supervised special educational services in Ridgewood and was the principal of the high school summer school. In the early 1980s, Sue became an educational consultant. She was instrumental in a new concept: partnerships in education whereby corporate America involved itself directly in local public school education. As such, she ran an annual national conference for nearly 15 years for the National Association for Partnership in Education, and a similar conference for more than 10 years for the Conference Board. From this involvement, she authored over 15 papers in academic journals on business/education partnerships and wrote one of the first books on this topic, School Partnership Handbook, published in 1986. She was also a consultant to the U.S. Department of Education during the 1990s. Long after becoming an administrator and then an independeneeducational consultant, Susan thrived on hands-on classroom work. When she relocated to Durham in early 1993, she became a Literacy Council tutor and a board member and vice president. She also spent several years as a voluneer teacher at the Fayetteville School and she was a first reader of Duke undergraduate applications. She was an adjunct professor at both Teachers College and Uneersity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1983, she was elected a member of the Ridgewood N.J. Board of Education. She was an early national board member of Teach for America and a board member of Teach for America in North Carolina. Susan most importantly was a devoted wife and mother. She is survived by Robert, her husband of nearly 54 years; a daughter, Laura Otterbourg of Medford Lakes, N.J., and husband, Richard Fonorow; a son, Kenneth Otterbourg of Winston-Salem, N.C., and wife, JoAnne Vernon; and two grandsons, Samuel Otterbourg and David Fonorow. In lieu of flowers, Susan asked that contributions be made to: the Trianee Radio Reading Service, 211 East Six Forks Road, Raleigh, N.C. 27609, or the Durham County Library Fund, 300 North Roxboro Street, Durham N.C. 27702. . A memorial service will be held at a later date. The Otterbourg family is under the care of Hall-Wynne Funeral Service, Durham.