Sandra Troy
1935 – 2023
Sandra Troy of Monroe Township passed away on Monday, February 6, 2023. She was 87.
Sandra, known to friends and family as Sandy, was born June 24, 1935 at the Royal Hospital in the Bronx. She was the only child of Morris and Elsie Gottlieb. Sandy and her parents lived simply in a one-bedroom apartment on Jessup Avenue. Sandy would not have her own bedroom until she married.
Morris was a USPS clerk and Elsie was a saleswoman for the department store Gimbels. Neither went to college, but they taught their daughter to work hard and to value education. Sandy soon showed that she was a gifted student. She skipped a year of middle school and entered New York’s celebrated High School of Music and Art. From there she attended City College, known at the time as “the poor man’s Harvard” because of its many exceptional students who came from modest economic circumstances. Sandy eventually enrolled in Baruch, City College’s business school. There she immersed herself in business and economics and continued to excel.
Sandy won a full scholarship to the University of Minnesota’s graduate school of economics. Among other things, she studied there under Professor Edward Coen, father of the famous film-makers known as the “Coen brothers.”
Sandy continued pursuing economics by taking a job at the National Bureau of Economic Research in Manhattan. She met Leo Troy at the NBER on Madison Avenue, where they worked together. She and Leo married in 1956 and had two children, Alexander and Suzannah. The marriage ended in divorce in 1981.
Sandy ended her graduate studies in economics to marry and raise children, as was common at the time. In the early 1970’s, she returned to work, joining the human resources department of Rutgers University’s library system. In the late 1970’s, she returned to graduate school in economics at Rutgers, successfully completing her master’s degree in economics.
Sandy worked 37 years for the Rutgers library system, earning a reputation for fairness, hard work, and devotion to her colleagues. She encouraged many employees to pursue opportunities they might otherwise have felt were beyond them. And she worked hard to ensure that every employee received the maximum benefits to which they were entitled. In this way she changed many lives.
Sandy is survived by her children, Suzannah and Alexander, her daughter-in-law Dale Winokur Troy, and grandchildren Ariel, Abby, and Rachel.
Funeral services and burial are 12:00 noon on Wednesday, February 8 at Princeton Cemetery, 29 Greenview Avenue, Princeton, NJ.
Funeral arrangements are by Orland’s Ewing Memorial Chapel.
My condolences to the Troy family. Sandy was a very special person and I was lucky to have worked with her in Libraries HR.
February 7, 2023
My heart goes out to Alex and Suzy. I know how much they will miss their Mother. May she rest in peace.
With love, Joan
Sandy was a thorough HR professional . She was a valued colleague . She helped me in so many ways throughout my library career. May she rest in peace.
What a beautiful obituary. My condolences to the Troy family
Mom was pure Bronx even until the end and she first was in hospice circa 6 years ago. My Mom’s Dad was born in a tenement house on Ludlow Street NYC because poor people in the early 1900s had their babies at home. I used to call my mom, the Jewish Audrey Hepburn but she was a trailblazer at the time to get a full scholarship to study economics for a masters degree. Mom told me Prof Coen asked her to bring home a camera of his to give to his father, and that would’ve been the famous filmmaker the Coen brothers’ grandfather! Over the years people would tell me about how my mother advocated for people to help them get tenure, benefits, etc. Whatever, she fought hard for people and so did my Dad. Before Dad passed, they had healed any hurt wounds, and found yet again, they had more in common than most people.
October 1, 2012 I became a victim of shocking violence at a doctors office in Soho New York City with no apologies just more crimes and when I learned, my mother would have to go to assisted living and then a nursing home I feared for her safety and through life’s twists and turns, she ended up at a nursing home where they respected her, cared for her and the proof? The average life expectancy if someone in a nursing home is one year and mommy survive their 6 1/2 years and was in hospice twice. I just want to thank the people from Rutgers ,who continue to embrace my mom, some treasured friends visited her at the nursing home or at the hospital after cancer surgery, and thank your all for sharing such kind and loving words thank you and bless you from me and my family. Deep love and gratitude for your kind words and thoughts at this time…
It was an honor to have spent a few years with you. Rest in peace Sandy.
My deepest thoughts, prayers and condolences are with you Sue and Alex.
My condolences. Losing one’s mother is very hard.
My condolences to my very good friend, Suzannah B. Troy, her brother, Alexander, and the rest of the family, on the loss of a loving mother, Sandra Troy. God bless her soul, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
-Joe Sanchez Picon
My thoughts are with my cousin’s Alex and Suzannah, Aunt Sandy was a beautiful woman inside and out. I have many fond memories of happy times we all spent together.
May her memory be a blessing.