Editor's note: Premier realtor and owner of Juner Properties, Stamford's own June Rosenthal will officially receive the Stamford Citizen of the Year award at a ceremony at the Italian Center in Stamford on Wednesday, May 14.
Here’s all you ever need to know about June Rosenthal. When she was 77, and her husband 80, they trekked to Nepal. “Our sherpa took one look at us, and his face fell,” she recalls. “I told him, ‘Don’t worry. When you’re tired at the end of the day, I’ll be there to help you up.’” She was.
In her 83 years, June Rosenthal has ridden elephants, written for Vogue, conducted a love affair with her husband for 58 years, raised two successful children and founded a real estate business that does millions of dollars in revenue every year.
Mrs. Rosenthal frowns when she’s called “superwoman.” “I’ve just worked hard at everything I do,” she says.
She started right out of junior college as assistant to the president of a photo-engraving company. “There were 400 men and two women — the telephone operator and me,” says Mrs. Rosenthal.
It was not the first time she beat the odds. In those days, girls mostly married. “But when I graduated from college, I thought I should do something. I remember being interviewed by my first employer and him asking, ‘What are your goals in money?’ I mentioned a figure, and he said, ‘You’re not going to do that.’” She did.
In January, Mrs. Rosenthal was named Citizen of the Year for 2007 by the Jewish War Veterans Post 142 for her long-time support of the arts in Stamford.
Mrs. Rosenthal has been equally generous to the Stamford Museum and Nature Center, Stamford Theatre Works, the Stamford Historical Society, the Stamford Center for the Arts and many others.
With her famous sense of humor, she confides her husband’s name means a type of dog in German. “When I want something, I say, ‘Here, Rolf, here, Rolf,’” she says with a mischievous smile and all the best intentions.
Juner Properties celebrates its 21st year in business this year. With a classic two-column porch and cupola, tucked in between the crook of Roxbury and Long Ridge roads, this distinctive landmark was the first one-room schoolhouse in Stamford. It’s been there for almost 200 years.
Mrs. Rosenthal grins when she thinks about the school kids who come every year. Inside, it looks very modern, with its turquoise loveseat and terra-cotta walls, high ceiling and spinning fans. But she tells them how, once, there was a tunnel under the house for the cattle to cross the road, and then shows photos of the wooden desks and chairs, how the tiny building looked when it was a schoolhouse.
“I have this photo from 1894 of the teacher, in her long shirtwaist and hair in a bun, and wouldn’t you know, one of the kids looks up at me and says, ‘Is that you?’” She laughs in delight.
With typical modesty, Mrs. Rosenthal says it was no more complicated than that. But it’s easy to tell why she’s such a success. She loves people. Trim and fit with silver hair and wrapped in turquoise, she runs to get a child a doughnut, then jumps up to take it away when he bites into it and doesn’t like it. “Do you want to try a different one?” she asks, to make sure that the kid is satisfied.