- Date Of Birth: August 27, 1922
- Date Of Death: August 24, 2016
- State: New York
Dolly Lederer Maass passed away Wednesday, August 24th at her home in The Osborn, Rye, NY. Dolly was born August 27, 1922 at Doctor’s Hospital in New York City. Dolly was the second child of Marguerite Kern Lederer and Richard Melville Lederer. Born Dorothy, she was nicknamed after her beloved grandfather Adolph (“Dolly”) Kern. Dolly was raised in Mount Vernon. She attended primary and secondary schools in Mount Vernon and New Rochelle, graduating from A.B. Davis High School.
She attended Westhampton College (now University of Richmond) majoring in Occupational Therapy. On April 4, 1943 Dolly married Richard Maass of New York City. They briefly honeymooned, then resided in Jacksonville, FL until Richard was sent overseas as a US Navy Aviation Radioman 1st Class flying in PBY-5A Catalina flying boats. Dolly returned to Westhampton College to complete her senior year becoming the first married woman to graduate from the college. Upon graduation, she moved back to New York to live with her parents for the duration of WWII. Her first child, Douglas Owen Maass, was born in June, 1944 while Richard was still overseas.
Richard returned in July, 1945 and they lived in a Riverside Drive apartment while Dolly was pregnant with her second child, Richard Andrew, who was born in April, 1946. Immediately after Andrew’s birth, Dolly and family moved to White Plains where they resided in the same house for 44 years. Dolly and Richard were politically active, socially responsible and committed philanthropists throughout their lives together. They were founders of the Manuscript Society and prominent collectors of American historical documents—Dolly built a recognized collection of letters of the wives of every American President from Martha Washington to Hillary Clinton.
In the early ‘60s, with Dr. Carroll Johnson, then WPPS Superintendent, the Westchester Urban League and others, Dolly and Richard helped lead the way to desegregate White Plains Public Schools. Dolly was a staunch feminist and activist who supported liberal causes, protested the Viet Nam War and supported the State of Israel. Dolly was a founder of, and advisor to, the Cage Teen Center and its offshoot Edu-Cage. Dolly taught ceramics at Edu-Cage and sat on the Board for two decades. Dolly maintained studio space at the Clay Arts Center for her own work, and with Richard seriously collected contemporary crafts and ceramics.
Dolly was a longtime supporter of Purchase College/ SUNY. The Art Department houses the “Dolly and Richard Maass Gallery” and the College’s Jewish Studies Program is supported by a Maass endowment. Dolly was a life-long member of the American Jewish Committee and a member of its Board of Governors. Dolly was a generous benefactor and supporter of Congregation Kol Ami of Westchester, the Blythedale Children’s Hospital, the White Plains Public Library, the White Plains YWCA, the Westchester County Historical Society, the Manuscript Society, AJC, and the New Israel Fund.
Dolly was predeceased by her husband Richard in 1998, her brother Richard M. Lederer, Jr. in 1993 and former daughter-in-law Cori Maass in 2009. She is survived by her son Douglas and his wife Diane in Sleepy Hollow, NY and son Andrew and his wife Ruth in Longboat Key, FL and nieces Barbara Lederer Rosin and Ann Lederer (Robert Hickler). .
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