Farmingdale librarian Carol Greenholz, 78, dies

Carol Greenholz, a librarian at Farmingdale State College for 40 years who was a feminist and peace activist, died Monday. She was 78.

Greenholz, an accomplished and elegant woman, was a tireless researcher with strong opinions well-supported with mounds of information, those close to her said. A warm mother and friend, she was an early participant in the women's liberation movement and was featured in a Newsday story about two-career households that was published in September 1970.

Greenholz, of Huntington, joined the library staff at what was then the State Agricultural & Technical College in Farmingdale in 1970. She was promoted to full librarian in 1987 and retired as head of technical services in November 2010 after being diagnosed with advanced lung cancer.

She played an integral role in bringing the university library from the card catalog to the computer, said Kathryn Coley, communications director at Farmingdale State. In 1988, Greenholz was awarded the Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Librarianship, and she was widely recognized as an expert across the State University of New York system, colleagues said.

Karen Gelles, 38, of St. James, who worked with Greenholz in the college library for more than a decade, said she was a pivotal force in bringing the library's technology system up to speed. She called her "a mentor and a friend."

"She never wanted to stop learning," Gelles said. "Carol was very personable and always wanted to make things easier for her colleagues and the students."

Greenholz was a founding member of the Women's Council, a campus group that fought for pay equality. Through the council, she helped bring to the campus female leaders such as Sarah Weddington, the attorney who successfully argued Roe vs. Wade.

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"She had a really strong sense of justice, and we all knew about it," said Marian Jaffe, 56, of Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the eldest of her three daughters.

Jaffe, an art teacher, said one of her earliest childhood memories is her mother bringing her to a "Ban the Bomb" rally. She was a strong supporter of education and freedom of speech, her daughter said.

Greenholz, who was trained to teach English as a second language, held voter registration drives for the National Organization for Women, and served in professional organizations including the American Library Association, where she sat on the Social Responsibilities Roundtable Action Council.

Greenholz was born Carol Elaine Gordon on Feb. 28, 1934, to Max and Raechel Gordon of Midwood, Brooklyn. Her father owned a tire business and her mother was a homemaker.

She was a member of the Barnard College Class of 1955. She received her bachelor's degree from the University of Denver. Greenholz returned to school for master's degrees from LIU Post and then Stony Brook University when her daughters went off to school. She was a serious student while balancing her domestic duties, all with a sense of humor.

"At one point she said, 'I'm not changing my clothes until I finish my thesis,' " said daughter Ruth Greenholz, 52, an attorney, of Melrose, Mass. "It seemed like it took forever for her to get a master's, but I guess it was because she was taking two classes a year and also raising us."

In addition to her daughters Marian Jaffe and Ruth Greenholz, she is survived by daughter Janet Greenholz of Gallup, N.M., and three grandchildren.

A memorial service is scheduled for 11 a.m. Thursday at Kehillapth Shalom, 58 Goose Hill Rd. in Cold Spring Harbor.