Mokotoff, center, is escorted following a SUNY Orange graduation
MIDDLETOWN – Former Middletown Mayor Gertrude Mokotoff has died.
She was 100.
Current Mayor Joseph DeStefano, who first met her when he ran for the
city common council in 1983, remembered her as “a mentor to most
of us here in city government.”
DeStefano said she was very involved in Middletown. She has “a legacy
of good deeds in a community that loved her back,” he said.
Mokotoff, who was a medical laboratory technology instructor at SUNY Orange
before she retired, later served for 19 years on the college’s Board
of Trustees.
“I truly treasured Gert,” said college President Dr. Kristine
Young. “She brought a unique and informed perspective to her role
as a trustee, and her insight has been invaluable to me both personally
and professionally.”
Young said, “Regardless of where life took her – the classroom,
the political arena or in service to her community – she always
returned to her beloved Orange County Community College. Her commitment
to this college never waned over the past 53 years. She was an extraordinary
asset to our Board of Trustees and advocate for our college.”
“For more than five decades, Gert Mokotoff was a positive force
for change at Orange County Community College, and her impact on the academic
programs, student services, and campus life at the college will be felt
for years to come,” said Fred Watson, chairman of the college Board
of Trustees. “I know that our current trustees, as well as many
others with whom she served over a 19-year tenure, greatly valued, appreciated
and respected her service and her passion.”
