When we moved to West Mt. Airy Avenue in 1971, we were told by neighbors that during the colonial era our small townhouse had been used as servants’ quarters for the Gorgas family, who lived in the last house on West Mt. Airy Avenue. There was no kitchen in our house until 1855, so the servants cooked their hot foods in the living room fireplace.
A Google search revealed that Gorgas family members — Joseph, John and Benjamin — owned tobacco and sugar mills on Wissahickon Creek as well as numerous buildings in Mt. Airy and Roxborough on both sides of the creek. In their honor, today there is a Gorgas Lane in Mt. Airy and one in Roxborough as well as a Gorgas Park on Ridge Avenue near Roxborough High School.
Not long after we moved into Gorgas’ “servants’ quarters,” a lovely couple, Stephen and Barbara Unger, moved into the historic Gorgas house. I remember bringing home-baked cookies to the Ungers to say hello to the neighborhood, and they could not have been more gracious in their acceptance. When we learned that he was a dentist with a then-new practice just off Evergreen and Germantown Avenues in Chestnut Hill, he became our dentist for more than 30 years.
Late last month, I was shocked to learn that Stephen Unger had died. He was surrounded by family when he died peacefully at home on July 14 at the age of 82. He lived in Audubon, Pa.
Unger was born in Bridgeport, Conn., to the late Harold and Ruth (Tishler) Unger on March 6, 1944. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Connecticut in 1966 and his doctorate in dental surgery from Temple University’s School of Dentistry. He ran his own dental practice in Chestnut Hill for 34 years.
The Ungers were good neighbors and friends. They were both fitness enthusiasts, with Stephen Unger regularly hiking, bicycling and rock climbing. He also played the piano. When I used to jog in the park almost every day, I would often pass Barbara Unger going in the opposite direction. I was particularly impressed that after jogging several miles, she was able to negotiate a very long, 45-degree angle hill from Forbidden Drive to Wissahickon Avenue, seemingly without breaking a sweat. The couple had two children, Clay and Rose.
It was particularly heartbreaking when Barbara Unger, who was active in women’s nonprofit causes, died of ovarian cancer in 2005. Stephen Unger later married Esther Yassi.
On visits to his dental office, one thing I loved was leafing through a huge coffee table book in the waiting room that contained the front pages of about 1,000 issues of the New York Times going back 100 years. It was fascinating to read the actual contemporary articles about events including the Titanic sinking, Pearl Harbor bombing, the first man on the moon, and Richard Nixon’s resignation.
“My patients never complain about how long they wait in the waiting room,” Unger told me. “Every medical office should have at least one of these books.”
“Steve Unger was a man who could do anything and helped you believe that you could, too,” his near neighbor, Karen Anderson, said last week. “He built beautiful cabinetry, erected a gazebo made from scratch and helped us install the electric line for our hot tub. He believed in neighbor helping neighbor. He plowed our snow each winter and invited us to use his pool each summer.”
Anderson’s wife, Suzanne Brennan, added, “Steve generously shared stories, laughs, meals and time with his delightful children, Clay and Rose, and his prodigious expertise in all things ‘handy’ … Although he moved out of the area several years ago, we shared two warm visits with Steve and his wife, Esther, and reaffirmed with words and hugs the depth of friendship we were all lucky to share for nearly 15 years.”
Clay, of Glenside, a software product manager who previously worked for 12 years in Ecuador for a nonprofit environmental program, said last week that his father “was always super-supportive of me and Rosie. He was open-minded and would give his advice but was never pushy. I always knew he’d be there for us, no matter what we did. I was privileged to grow up where we did, and I’ve tried not to take that for granted.”
Unger is survived by his wife, Esther Yassi, son, Clay Plager-Unger, and daughter, Rose McClave, a real estate lawyer, and four grandchildren, Sol, Luna, Olivia and Rory, and his sister, Judith Unger.
A celebration of life was hosted by Steve’s family on Aug. 1 near Glenside.
Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com.
