David Gerstein

David Gerstein of Bloomfield, CT, died June 2, 2026, at Seabury’s long term nursing care facility in Bloomfield at the age of 94.

Born in Philadelphia on February 14, 1932, he was the son of Nathan and Molly (Kaufman) Gerstein, both Jewish immigrants from Bessarabia, and older brother to Hilda, who predeceased him in 2008.

While his parents lacked formal education and spoke only Yiddish, at a very young age David developed a life-long love for literature, opera, classical music, and the theater. David was proud to have attended Philadelphia’s prestigious Central High School, three train rides away from his parents’ grocery store and home.

He was also proud and grateful for his education at Columbia University, earning a B.A. in Humanities in 1954. After college he enlisted in the army and was stationed at Camp Gordon in Georgia. Due to his ability to type, read army regulations, and communicate, he was able to resolve problems for men in his unit. After he had this reputation, he said, he never paid for a cigarette.

After his two-year stint in the army, David returned to Columbia and earned a Master’s in theater history in 1960. As a graduate student, he rented a room in an apartment on the Upper West Side from a widow whose daughter, Tirzah Silberstein, became his wife. They moved to Connecticut for David’s job teaching at Central Connecticut State College. David and Tirzah had three children, Rachel, Charlotte, and Daniel. David taught English at Central for 30 years, sharing his passion for Shakespeare’s plays, founding an honors program, and writing the school’s alma mater. David and Tirzah divorced in 1975.

In the 1970s, David got involved in community theater, in particular the Hole in the Wall theater in New Britain. He wrote and directed two full-length musical plays and acted in many others. He met his second wife, social worker Anne Cohen, at the Hole in the Wall when she acted in one of his plays. David and Anne had daughter Alix in 1982.

In his retirement, David continued to teach part-time at Central for 20 more years and act in community theater. He also enjoyed traveling with Anne, shopping at tag sales, listening to music, reading all the magazines and newspapers he subscribed to, marveling at personal computers and electronic gadgets, and regaling anyone who would listen with stories from his life and anecdotes about theater and film history, or whatever he had read recently.

David will be lovingly remembered for being a real-world absent-minded professor; for his extraordinary collection of books, CDs, DVDs, and videos that gave him joy, comfort, and sustenance; for his life-long connection to the films, show-tunes, and operas that enraptured him from his youth onward; for his encyclopedic knowledge; and for his constancy and pride in his children’s and grandchildren’s lives.

David is survived by his wife Anne; his four children -- Rachel (Karen Eisenhauer) of North Grafton, MA, Charlotte (Jonathan Spiro) of Rutland, VT, Dan (Simona Siri) of New York City, and Alix of Bloomfield; and his three grandchildren – Sophie and Benjamin Spiro, and Ella Mae Gerstein, as well as his sister- and brother-in-law, Martha and Ernie Bial, nieces and a nephew.

David’s family is deeply grateful to the dedicated staff of Seabury for the excellent care David received in his final years.

A funeral service will be held on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, at 11 a.m. at Temple Sinai, 41 West Hartford Road, Newington, CT. Weinstein Mortuary is assisting the family.