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Former Carle Place teacher Gertrude Isikoff dies

BY ANDREW STRICKLER | andrew.strickler@newsday.com

May 7, 2008

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Gertrude "Trudy" Isikoff, the mother of Newsweek investigative reporter Michael Isikoff and a longtime teacher in Carle Place who was known for her lavish school musical productions, died May 1 in Chestnut Hill, Mass. She was 87.

Her family remembered her as an energetic teacher with a deep interest in world affairs. "She was the most amazing, dedicated teacher, who brought real passion and commitment to her work," said Michael of Washington, D.C.

Isikoff was born in New York City in 1920 and attended high school in the Bronx and Coney Island, Brooklyn. During World War II she joined the Women's Army Corps, only telling her mother after she enlisted, said her daughter, Nancy Isikoff of Needham, Mass., an attorney with the state Department of Social Services.

"She knew she'd get in trouble," Nancy said. "She felt strongly about the issues being fought for, and it was pretty unusual for a woman in her 20s to enlist in the Army at that time."

Between 1943 and 1946, Isikoff held several positions at bases in Texas and Washington, rising to the rank of second lieutenant. At one time, her job was to escort war brides and their children by ship from the United Kingdom to the United States.

Isikoff met her future husband of 52 years, Morris Isikoff, at Grossinger's Catskill Resort Hotel in 1947. They married that year and lived in Manhattan and Forest Hills, Queens, before moving to Syosset in 1955. Morris died in 2001.

Gertrude, who earned a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and a master's from Hofstra University, joined Cherry Lane School in Carle Place in 1960, where she taught kindergarten and first grade until her retirement in 1993.

For many years, Isikoff produced and directed her young students in plays based on Broadway musicals like "South Pacific," getting parents involved in making costumes and holding rehearsals on her lunch hour. "It was a big production, and she put her heart and soul into it," Nancy said.

Isikoff served as a president of the Carle Place branch of the New York State Retired Teachers Association and was active in the American Association of University Women and Common Cause, a nonprofit, nonpartisan group that aims to engage citizens in the political process. She also attended services at Midway Jewish Center in Syosset for more than 50 years.

In a letter that accompanied Isikoff's nomination by the Carle Place Parent-Teacher Association for a national PTA award in 1990, her students wrote, "We wish we could clone her."

In addition to her son and daughter, Isikoff is survived by four grandchildren. Her funeral was held May 5 at Temple Beth Shalom in Needham.