Celebrating Dr. Jane Portnoy’s Life

It is with deep sadness that we inform you of the passing of the NANOS’s long-standing member and our dear colleague, Dr. Jane Portnoy.

PORTNOY JANE, M.D. 75, died on March 28, 2021 at the Hospital of The University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Portnoy, Professor of Ophthalmology at the Scheie Eye Institute, University of Pennsylvania, was the first woman board-certified ophthalmologist in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Educated at Woodmere Academy and Mount Holyoke College, she completed her medical training, internship and residency at the University of Louisville, followed by a Fellowship in neuro-ophthalmology at the University of Iowa. Dr. Portnoy spent more than ten years in practice in Louisville followed by twenty-seven years in Philadelphia, first at Temple University, and for the last two decades at Scheie. She was regarded as a brilliant diagnostician, but also as a physician who brought the "human touch" to the practice of medicine. Dr. Portnoy was a committed member of NANOS who served on the Brochure Committee, Membership Committee, and Preferred Practice Patterns Committee.

Dr. Portnoy was also the author of A Jewish Calendar of Festive Foods, a cookbook based upon the Jewish months and holidays. Though destined for distinction as a doctor, she began her career as a teacher of French at Scarsdale High School, and her love of French culture and cuisine was lifelong. She danced as well, participating for several summers in the American Dance Festival at Connecticut College where she studied with Alvin Ailey and Merce Cunningham, and tap-danced well into her seventies. An expert gardener and knitter, she was passionate about music, and sang in synagogue and community choirs her entire life.

She is survived by her husband of fifty-one years, Cantor Marshall Portnoy, and their children Julie Beth Portnoy Simon (Alex) and Michael Portnoy; grandson Jordan Max Simon; and a brother Daniel Zuger. Funeral arrangements are private. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Dr. Jane Portnoy Memorial Fund at the Scheie Eye Institute at Penn Medicine. Please mail checks, payable to "Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania" with "In Memory of Jane Portnoy" written on the memo line to: Penn Medicine Development, Attn: Mary Tong, 3535 Market Street, Suite 750, Philadelphia, PA 19129.

Kind Regards,
NANOS Executive Office