Visual Bio

As a young child, Shirley wanted to be a teacher. She lined up her sister Roz and her dolls and tried to teach them. Roz wouldn’t sit still, and Shirley gave up on teaching.

Shirley’s sister Roz was an athlete. She played basketball and liked riding her bike around the city. Shirley, on the other hand, loved going to school and enjoyed reading in her spare time. Her mom said she was the only child who claimed to have homework in kindergarten.

Shirley grew up in New York and New Jersey. She frequently visited the beach with her family.

When Shirley was 22 months old, her sister Rosalind (referred to as Roz) was born.

Shirley was born Dec. 17, 1933, just after her mother arrived in the U.S. They joked that the timing meant she could become President.

Shirley’s parents, Leo Schlanger and Ceil Sauerteig, were Jewish immigrants from Poland. They ran a
grocery store in New York and, for a time, in New Jersey.