Isaac Cass’s Blog

By Laura Scharf

At 97-years old, Yorktown resident Leon Sverdlove does not spend his days relaxing in a recliner watching television. His schedule is busier than many people half his age.

Over the summer, when Support Connection needed help with its outreach packets and mailings, Sverdlove was one of the first to volunteer. His daughter, Evie Shoenthal, is an occupational therapist at Hudson Valley Hospital who works with many breast cancer patients, so he understands how important Support Connection’s work is to their recovery.

Sverdlove volunteers five days a week at Hudson Valley Hospital Center, traveling to five different locations with the help of his aide, Adisa Sistrunh, who does the driving for him. He helps with medical records and clerical duties. His computer skills are first-rate.

Sverdlove is a legend at the hospital, and gets warmly greeted as an old friend by staff, doctors and patients. Many lovingly refer to him as “Dr Leon.”

“Leon is such as inspiration, said Debbie Neuendorf, vice president of administration. “He lifts everyone’s spirits with his positive attitude. He is a mentor and a role model.”

Volunteering is one of Sverdlove’s main sources of satisfaction, and he believes that everyone should find a way to help out. For years, he served meals to the homeless at the Volunteers of America shelter in Yorktown, but he retired at age 94 when they moved the program to Valhalla.

“Although I recognize that I am making a contribution by helping others, a contribution is also being made by giving me the opportunity to help,” he said. “As you reach my age and old friends disappear, you have more time. This is a good way for me to spend my time.”

One of his favorite volunteer endeavors is speaking to local middle and high school students.

“I love speaking to students,” he said. “It evokes long forgotten memories for me. And I feel like I’m making a contribution to their lives, adding a perspective they won’t hear elsewhere.”

He has lived through World Wars I and II, the Great Depression, the Korean War, the Cold War and McCarthyism, the civil rights movement, the moon landing, Viet Nam, and many more events that may seem like ancient history to today’s youth.

Sverdlove was an early advocate for Social Security when it was considered controversial, and served in World War II for three years. He was in Peekskill for Paul Robeson’s concert in 1949 and in Washington, D.C. in 1963 for Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

He was forced to drop out of high school to help support his family, as they struggled in their tenement apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. He and his brother and sister were orphaned at a young age, but relatives helped care for them.

He was proud to finally be awarded his diploma from Seward Park High School in 2004, 74 years after he was supposed to graduate. State Assemblyman Willis Stevens presented it to him in a special ceremony.

Sverdlove said that one of his proudest moments was when he volunteered during World War II by serving in the U.S. Air Force as a turret and machine gun specialist.

He lives with his daughter and his son-in-law at their home in Yorktown Heights. His dedication to helping others is being carried on by his two grandsons. Matthew, age 27, is in his third year at Fordham Law School, and Michael, 24, is teaching high school science in Wilmington, Del. His wife, Sema, died in 1982. His sister Lily Davis, 92, lives on Long Island, and his brother died last year at age 95.

At age 16, Sverdlove went to work as an apprentice diamond setter, and began to help organize a union to improve working conditions and benefits for jewelry workers. He became an official of the union, which helped set him on a course of political and community activism that has lasted throughout his life.

It even helped land him on Nixon’s infamous “Enemies List,” which he proudly has hanging on his wall. He has copies of his FBI files, and his grandson, who is a law student, is helping him retrieve more documents the government has about him and his trade union activities.

Sverdlove has been honored many times, including induction into the Westchester Senior Hall of Fame.

His plans for the future? Slowing down is not on his list. Sverdlove plans to continue to volunteer at the hospital, and looks forward to spending time with his immediate family and his extended family at the hospital.

“Every day is a gift,” Sverdlove said.

If you would like Leon Sverdlove to come speak to your class or organization, you can contact him at (914) 962-9714.