Peggy Sue Salwen

Obituary

Peggy Sue Salwen, a beloved children’s librarian who helped generations of children learn to love reading, died surrounded by her family at her home in Manhattan’s Upper West Side on September 4th after living for nine months with the effects of motor neuron disease, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was 75.

Peggy Sue Levin Salwen was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, to Dave and Shirley Levin (nee Hurwitz) on August 23, 1950. After graduating from Centenary College and Virginia Commonwealth University, she earned her Master’s degree in Library Science at Emory University in Atlanta. She taught briefly at Agudath Shalom School in Atlanta before taking a children’s librarian position at the Cincinnati Public Library.

In 1975 she moved to New York City, where she was the first children’s librarian ever hired by the venerable New York Society Library. She led the Children’s Room there and created and led children’s programs until 1982, when she joined the New York Public Library, working in the NYPL’s Central Children’s Room, the Donnell Branch and at other branch libraries throughout the city.

Peggy took what turned out to be a very extended maternity leave from NYPL in 1987, but continued working with children, doing storytelling at the Hans Christian Andersen statue in Central Park and storytimes for babies and toddlers in neighborhood branch libraries and for the young children of incarcerated mothers at the Rose M. Singer Detention Center on Rikers Island. She also taught in several neighborhood preschool programs, and with her friend Mary Ann Gioeli she created and ran a morning program, Parkhouse for Toddlers, in a Riverside Park playground in the mid-1990s.

From 1997 to 2012 she was the school librarian at P.S. 87, then one of the most admired in the city. With her warm, kind nature and a remarkable gift for making others (children especially) feel seen and understood, she quickly became a friend and inspiration to countless children as well as to the many parent-volunteers who came to constitute a sort of unofficial, unpaid library “staff.” As one of them said, “at PS 87, Peggy was always a source of welcome, support, care and love. And honesty. And dry humor.”

Returning to NYPL in 2013, she worked mainly at the East 67th Street and St Agnes branches in Manhattan, the former near Rockefeller University and the latter a short walk from her West 86th Street home, so her patrons were also her neighbors. Any walk around the neighborhood was likely to be punctuated with greetings from children or parents who remembered her warmly from the local libraries and schools where she had worked. "I feel like the public library is such an incredible resource that it should be used as it is meant to be used—as a library, not as a place to sit around and talk on your phone while the kids play," she said in an interview at the time. She also started "Daddy and Me and Mommy Too," a story hour focused on bringing dads to the branch, and tapped into her love of toddlers by creating a baby story hour. "Reading to babies, talking to them, singing with them—that’s how they learn speech," she explained. "So many people think they’ll learn from the videos, but they don’t."

“Reading to babies, talking to them, singing to them—that’s how they learn speech. When you read to your children, they learn to love books and learning, and that’s a big part of helping them get ready for life.”

Peggy always took a lively interest in other people, including especially folks with children and friendly dogs. Many a subway-riding mother with a squalling child was surprised to see a nicely dressed middle-aged lady approaching her with a picture book extended as a distracting gift for her unruly child. And just over a month ago she startled a young man riding with his family on the Staten Island ferry by handing him a note that said, “You seem to me to be a very good father.”

She was remarkable, too, for the sort of demeanor that used to be called “ladylike,” in the nicest sense. Nothing prim or sniffish, but always nicely turned out and notable for her courtesy (even the requests she scribbled from her deathbed included “please”). On the other hand, as many friends noted, Peggy did not suffer fools, and friends appreciated, as one said, “her low-key yet sharp-witted, and honest style of communication. A breath of fresh air!” As close friends and family can attest, she never hesitated to give you the finger, if you’d earned it.

She also never hesitated to share her fierce indignation at right-wing attacks on civil rights, equality and inclusion. As a citizen and a proud liberal, she worked actively to improve her neighborhood and city. She joined in many public demonstrations and marches, and even after ALS had taken away her power of speech, she rode to Washington, D.C. last June to take part in the “No Kings Day” demonstrations.

Above all, though, bringing books and children together was her lifelong mission. In retirement, she went right on doing story times for toddlers at the local branch library, usually on a volunteer basis, and she constantly encouraged mothers, fathers and caretakers to start reading to their kids as early as possible. If you were a new parent and a friend of Peggy’s, you could expect a small, well- curated library of kids’ books to come in the mail very soon after the baby arrived.

In Peggy’s last months, family and friends flocked to her home, a few staying on for weeks and gladly sharing the burden of keeping her as comfortable as possible. This too had everything to do with Peggy’s thoughtful and caring nature, because she made sure that her home was always a place where everyone she cared about knew they were welcome to visit or stay any time, no questions asked. Her casual but warm and unfailing hospitality made the place a natural hub for her extended family.

Peggy Salwen is survived by Peter, her husband of 41 years, sons James and William, daughter-in-law Natasha Ochshorn and grandson Isaac (Izzy) Salwen Ochshorn, her sister Jill Grosman, her husband Barry Grosman, their son Mark Kremer and his wife Crystal Kremer, and beloved siblings-in-law Nancy Salwen, her husband Forrest Seymour and their children Emily and Jake; Joshua Salwen, his wife Leslie Piper and their children Alex and Ollie; Ethan Salwen; and Sarah Salwen and her husband Max Prilutsky and their children Zach and Alice.

Service Information