Noah Daniel Dunitz, 91, of Saco, Maine, passed away peacefully on March 6, 2024. The son of the late Jesse and Rose Gordon Dunitz, he was born on December 22, 1932, in Goshen, New York. He lived in Florida, New York, for the first 12 years of his life before the Dunitz family moved to Middletown in 1945. He was a 1950 graduate of Middletown High School. After high school, Dan attended Boston University.
Dan contracted polio in 1952, and then spent two years in a rehab hospital. After completing his rehabilitation, he returned to Boston University and joined the Tau Epsilon Phi fraternity. Because of his polio, when he returned to BU he brought a car. Many of the fraternity brothers wanted to borrow the car for a date. Dan always lent the car out on the condition that they find him a date as well. It was on one of those blind dates that he met the love of his life, Phyllis Shuman, whom he married on June 23, 1957. Graduating in 1956, Dan returned to Middletown and became involved in the family business, Gor-Duns, Inc., a John Deere dealership.
Despite being confined to a wheelchair for 70 years starting at age 20, Dan led an incredibly active, independent, and successful life. He managed the Gor-Duns farm machinery business for most of his adult life. He was the Scoutmaster of Troop 60 at Temple Sinai, camping regularly with the Boy Scouts and accompanying his troop to Scout camp every year. He traveled internationally, including to Israel, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Although family was always Dan’s highest priority, he had many hobbies, including woodworking and leisurely drives to explore the local sights. He never missed an opportunity to go fishing, including fishing out on the ice even in the later years of his life. He was driven to serve his community throughout his life. Over his lifetime he was a member of the Board of Trustees and an officer of Temple Sinai, March of Dimes Chairman, a member and officer of the Middletown Jaycees, a member and chair of the Orange and Sullivan Chapter of SCORE, and a member and the first Chair of the Orange County Agricultural Protection Board. He was the first Recipient of the Middletown Lions Club Humanitarian of the Year Award and was the Hudson River District of the Hadassah Organization Citizen of the Year. He served on The Middletown City School Committee Site Selection Committee.
When Dan retired, he and Phyllis moved to Saco, Maine, where he continued his community involvement with the Southern Maine Health Care Patient and Family Advisory Committee.
He will be sorely missed by his wife of 66 years, Phyllis Dunitz; his three sons and two daughters-in-law, Jeremy and Anne Dunitz, of Middletown, NY; Jordan and Sydney Dunitz of Minnetonka, MN; and Jonathan Dunitz of South Portland, ME; his four grandchildren, Madison Dunitz, Shayna Dunitz, Jackson Dunitz, Jesse Dunitz; his sister and brother-in-law, Hannah (Hadassah) and Sherman Stein of Davis, CA; as well as a large extended family and countless friends in Middletown, Saco, and across the United States.
The funeral will be held on Friday, March 8, 2024, at 12:00 noon at Temple Sinai, 75 Highland Ave, Middletown, NY. Burial will follow immediately after at Temple Sinai Cemetery, Route 302, Circleville, NY. The family will sit Shiva at the home of Jeremy and Anne Dunitz through Wednesday, March 14, 2024.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in recognition of Southern Maine Health Care’s Patient and Family Action Committee, The Hospice of Southern Maine or Jesse and Rose Dunitz General Fund Endowment at Temple Sinai.