Diane Abbey ’59

Throughout her adult life, Diane Abbey has been committed to improving the lives of children and families throughout the New York metropolitan area. After graduating from Adelphi in 1959, she taught English and English as a second language at Theodore Roosevelt High School, a public high school in the Bronx, New York.

After stepping down from her teaching career in 1968 to raise her family, Abbey has been a longtime Adelphi supporter and has served as a member of the President’s Advisory Group. She has never forgotten how Adelphi played a pivotal role in preparing her to be a dedicated educator. During her student years and at the age of 19, Abbey lost her beloved mother to cancer. Adelphi, through the kind assistance of Dean Ruth Harley, filled an important role in helping her get through that very difficult time. The University was extremely generous and giving in its support of her, and she resolved that one day she would “give back” to Adelphi. Abbey has never forgotten that promise and has made it a reality.

Over the many years since that time, Abbey has been a generous contributor to Adelphi and to many other worthwhile causes, both in time and money. As an educator for Planned Parenthood, she spoke at many schools, substance abuse centers and after-school programs. At New Alternatives for Children, an organization that provides innovative services in support of birth, foster and adoptive families caring primarily for medically challenged children and their families, she was instrumental in establishing the agency’s volunteer corps. That program expanded into tutoring after-school and summer programs and is now 300 volunteers strong.

Abbey and her husband, Arthur, are co-founders of The Diane Abbey Law Institute for Children and Families at New York Law School. The center prepares law students for the practice of family law and assists children and families in need in a variety of pro-bono settings. The Abbeys also provide the support at the Law School for the ICNY’s (Interfaith Center of New York) program on lawyering and religious diversity

Abbey has been an active participant at JCCA, a comprehensive child and family service agency. She has also supported the Safe Passage Project that provides immigration legal services to children. In addition, Abbey has been an avid supporter and participant in many social service programs, including the shelter program for the homeless at the Brotherhood Synagogue in Manhattan.

Abbey is a longtime member of the Dean’s Council at Weill Cornell Medicine, supporting medical education. She also supports numerous nonprofit organizations that advocate for animal rights as well as the Central Park Conservancy, which maintains Central Park in New York City.

The Abbeys are active supporters and collectors of art. Their bamboo basket collection was shown at The Metropolitan Museum of Art to approximately 400,000 viewers, and paintings from their postwar collection have been shown at major museums throughout the world.