Dorothy Zurheide, formerly of Maumee, a world traveler who received a bachelor's degree from the University of Toledo at age 70, died Tuesday in a Pittsburgh hospice from complications of a fall a week earlier. She was 87.
She returned about three years ago to Pittsburgh, where she had lived for many years.
She moved to the Toledo area in 1987 after the death of her husband, George. She lived with her daughter, Carol, and son-in-law Bill Block, Jr., who is retired chairman of Block Communications Inc., parent firm of The Blade.
Mrs. Zurheide didn't have a chance to attend college as a young woman. At Mr. Block's urging, she enrolled at UT, her daughter said.
She was respected by her much-younger classmates.
"She felt she was valuable in class because she had a lot of life experience," said her daughter, a former president of the Toledo-Lucas County Public Library board of trustees. "She loved learning things and being around the young people and fulfilling her lifelong dream to go to college."
She was a former music docent at the Toledo Museum of Art. As a volunteer at the Toledo Zoo, she tended to a gorilla newborn whose mother died.
Mrs. Zurheide was a longtime practitioner of ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arranging, and visited Japan eight times. In later years, she went to Africa, Asia, and Australia, with Elderhostel. "She was always a highly motivated person," her daughter said.
Mrs. Zurheide grew up in St. Louis. Her husband became an engineer with what is now PPG Industries. In the 1950s, he was promoted to the home office, and the family moved to Pittsburgh.
Surviving are her daughter, Carol Block; sister, Lorraine Rademacher; three granddaughters, and two great-grandsons.
There will be no visitation, and services will be private. Arrangements are by Daniel T. D'Alessandro Funeral Home, Pittsburgh.
The family suggests tributes to the Toledo Zoo. Permanent Link
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