Phyllis Katz
Northampton, MA – Phyllis B. Katz died peacefully on September 5th,
2025 in Northampton, MA, where she spent the last years of her life
under the loving care of her daughter Laura and Laura’s husband Dan.
Phyllis was a beloved wife, mother, and grandmother, as well as
teacher, mentor, and author of numerous works in classics and poetry.
Phyllis was born on May 23, 1936, in New Haven Connecticut. Her
parents were Fredrick J. Beck and Enda E. Beck. Fred was an
engineering professor at Yale College, and Edna a premier dancer,
having performed with the Ziegfeld Follies in New York City in the
1950’s. Phyllis was married for 58 years to Arnold M. Katz, originally
from Chicago, IL. Arnold was a world-renowned cardiologist who served
as the first Philip J. and Harriet L. Goodhart Professor of Medicine
at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, later becoming Chief of
Cardiology at the University of Connecticut’s School of Medicine.
Phyllis received her BA degree in English literature at Wellesley
College in 1958, an MA in Greek at UCLA in 1964, and a PhD in Classics
in 1969 from Columbia University. She had a long and distinguished
teaching career in both Classics and English, starting in 1968 at the
University of Illinois, Circle Campus in Chicago, IL; and continuing
at the College of New Rochelle in New Rochelle, NY; State University
of New York in Purchase; and Miss Porter’s School in Farmington, CT.
From 1990 until 2007, Phyllis was a visiting scholar at Dartmouth
College in Hanover, NH, where she taught in the Arts and Liberal
Sciences and Women’s Studies programs. Phyllis received numerous
awards and fellowships, including the Barlow-Beach Award from the
Classical Association of New England in 1997 and an award from the
National Endowment for the Humanities, for which she was honored by
First Lady Barbara Bush at a White House ceremony (she babysat for the
Bush family one summer in Kennebunkport, ME, a job she secured through
the financial aid office at Wellesley). Phyllis also devoted
unstinting energy to her poetry, publishing a total of four books, the
most recent being Finding Ithaca (2018) and Ghost Orchids (2020).
Phyllis’ favorite hobbies included cooking, opera, theater, hiking,
and birdwatching. She enjoyed going on birdwatching tours with her
daughter Sarah, visiting her children and grandchildren in London and
Taiwan, and hosting the entire family at their dream house Treetops in
Norwich, VT. Phyllis and Arnold were world travelers, journeying to
Europe, Asia, Africa, Antarctica, and the Amazon River. They also
loved animals (particularly springer spaniels) and they never said no
to the steady stream of cats, dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, and even a
parakeet that were brought home by their children.
Phyllis is survived by her oldest child, Paul Katz and his wife Shufen
Liu, as well as three daughters: Sarah Fostello and her husband James
(Buddy) Fostello, Amy Schick and her partner Dave Brown and Laura Katz
and her husband Dan Berger. She is also survived by her eight
grandchildren: Emily and Philip Katz, James and Caroline Fostello,
Annabel and Michael Schick, and Rose and Alex Katz-Berger.
There will be no public service at this time. In lieu of flowers,
donations can be made in Phyllis’s memory to benefit the work done at
Mass Audubon or Wellesley Students’ Aid Society.