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Eleanor Rosenthal, 91, died on Friday March 27, 2026 at home in San Francisco. Born in New York City to the late Benjamin Rosenthal and Jeanette (“Jen”) Pasachoff Rosenthal, she was a proud graduate of the Bronx High School of Science, University of Michigan, Columbia University School of Law, and The American Center for the Alexander Technique (ACAT) in New York.
Eleanor (known as “Elli” to some) was a beloved cousin, a devoted friend, and a dedicated teacher & mentor to many others. Though her life changed dramatically at seven years old when her mother died of cancer, Eleanor was able to triumph over the disease herself four different times. Always eager to understand her options, Eleanor negotiated for a lumpectomy in an era when breast removal was standard practice, becoming a notable long-term survivor of the newer procedure.
Eleanor was a masterful reinventor of herself, beginning her post-college professional life as a script reader during the 1950s “golden age” of live television drama. As that period wound down, she embarked on a law career, entering Harvard Law School in the fall of 1961, one of only 15 women in a class of over five hundred. (Forty years later, she appeared in Pinstripes & Pearls [Scribner 2003] by her classmate Judith Richards Hope, a study of the Class of 1964 women.)
Finding that she preferred life in New York City to Cambridge, Eleanor transferred to the Columbia University School of Law for the final two years of her studies. She received her J.D. degree cum laude in 1964. Eleanor practiced law for nearly ten years, first in New York and then in San Francisco.
Eleanor’s third and happiest livelihood was as a teacher of the Alexander Technique. She trained under Judith Leibowitz at what was then the only teacher training program in the United States. After becoming certified as a teacher in 1975, she returned to San Francisco and began a private practice. Along with her fulltime teaching role, Eleanor presented the Technique at conferences, classes, and meetings for audiences as varied as doctors, physical therapists, music educators, and the University of California Extension System. She wrote articles on the Technique that were published in professional journals, and her work was covered in publications such as the San Francisco Examiner, New Age Journal, and Jane Brody’s “Personal Health” column in The New York Times. She served as President and as a Director for the American Center for the Alexander Technique, Western Region.
In 1986, Eleanor began studying CranioSacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulation (including Neural and VisceroVascular Manipulation), becoming an advanced practitioner. She found these osteopathy-based disciplines integrated well with the Alexander Technique, increasing her effectiveness. Eleanor served as a Teaching Assistant for CranioSacral Therapy classes and a Certified Teaching Assistant for Visceral Manipulation.
Eleanor’s interests were broad and included subjects as varied as ancient Egyptian deities, local and national politics, metaphysics, and essential oils. She’d have cheerfully skipped acquiring her expertise in treating migraine headaches, a condition she lived with for most of her life. She loved PBS dramas, Trader Joe’s coffee cake, and walking like a queen – the first gift she received as a student of the Alexander Technique.
A private, green burial ceremony took place at Fernwood Cemetery, Mill Valley, California on April 6. Eleanor is survived by cousins Joel Hoffman, Alice Wegman, and Jane Schlaifer, and friends Jack Eiman, Roderick Kiracofe, Joe Ficurelli, and Harlan Shays. Contributions in Eleanor’s memory may be made to the public broadcasting organization of your choice, or to any of the schools she attended.
