Yolanda Bonitch died on November 20, 2025. Yolanda was ninety-one years old and a resident of the Bronx at the time of her death.
Born in Manhattan, Yolanda grew up with her family in Queens. After her elementary and high school years, Yolanda attended St. John’s Teachers College. She served as an elementary school teacher and then principal for twenty years. After taking an abstracting course at Pratt University, Yolanda redirected her passion for education to librarianship. She received a Master’s degree in Library Science from Pratt in 1975. Her NYPL career began in 1978 when she assumed the position of Children’s Librarian at the West Farms Branch. Yolanda became a Senior Librarian at the Fordham Library Center in 1981. In 1986, she became the Community Outreach Specialist in the Manhattan Borough Office, then the Outreach Specialist at the Mid-Manhattan Library where she remained until her retirement in 2009.
A member of the Order of the Visitation and then the Sisters of Charity, Yolanda put her vocation to work in service to a wide variety of communities served by NYPL. She initiated storytelling programs for children and families without homes and partnered with NY Cares to bring homeless families to library branches. Yolanda worked with NYPL librarians to provide reading aloud to older adult residents of nursing homes. In the latter part of her career, Yolanda often visited Rikers Island with staff from the Office of Outreach Services to bring library services to incarcerated individuals. After her retirement, she continued this activity as a volunteer.
Yolanda is remembered for her dedication to public service, particularly to children. Most of all, staff and colleagues benefited from Yolanda’s easygoing and, at times, humorous approach to very serious library and social issues.
Yolanda received the NYPL Bertha Franklin Feder Award for Outstanding Service in Librarianship in 1988 and the Sloan Public Service Award of the Fund for the City of New York in 1992.
Here is the link to the obituary posted by the Sisters of Charity: https://scny.org/in-memoriam-sr-yolanda-bonitch/Yolanda BONITCH
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 44, page 10.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 43, page 11.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 39, page 12.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 38, page 6, 10.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 35, page 13, 25, 26.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 34, page 15.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 33, page 15.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 32, page 1, 5.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 27, page 8.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 27, page 17.
Born in Manhattan, Yolanda grew up with her family in Queens. After her elementary and high school years, Yolanda attended St. John’s Teachers College. She served as an elementary school teacher and then principal for twenty years. After taking an abstracting course at Pratt University, Yolanda redirected her passion for education to librarianship. She received a Master’s degree in Library Science from Pratt in 1975. Her NYPL career began in 1978 when she assumed the position of Children’s Librarian at the West Farms Branch. Yolanda became a Senior Librarian at the Fordham Library Center in 1981. In 1986, she became the Community Outreach Specialist in the Manhattan Borough Office, then the Outreach Specialist at the Mid-Manhattan Library where she remained until her retirement in 2009.
A member of the Order of the Visitation and then the Sisters of Charity, Yolanda put her vocation to work in service to a wide variety of communities served by NYPL. She initiated storytelling programs for children and families without homes and partnered with NY Cares to bring homeless families to library branches. Yolanda worked with NYPL librarians to provide reading aloud to older adult residents of nursing homes. In the latter part of her career, Yolanda often visited Rikers Island with staff from the Office of Outreach Services to bring library services to incarcerated individuals. After her retirement, she continued this activity as a volunteer.
Yolanda is remembered for her dedication to public service, particularly to children. Most of all, staff and colleagues benefited from Yolanda’s easygoing and, at times, humorous approach to very serious library and social issues.
Yolanda received the NYPL Bertha Franklin Feder Award for Outstanding Service in Librarianship in 1988 and the Sloan Public Service Award of the Fund for the City of New York in 1992.
Here is the link to the obituary posted by the Sisters of Charity: https://scny.org/in-memoriam-sr-yolanda-bonitch/Yolanda BONITCH
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 44, page 10.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 43, page 11.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 39, page 12.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 38, page 6, 10.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 35, page 13, 25, 26.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 34, page 15.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 33, page 15.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 32, page 1, 5.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 27, page 8.
See New York Public Library Retirees Newsletter, Issue 27, page 17.