Delray Beach resident Nettie Birnbach loves all the arts. That’s lucky for Lynn as she has recently established the Nettie Birnbach Endowed Scholarship for Piano Education—the first named scholarship for piano students
Birnbach was a supporter of the music division of the Harid Conservatory, which became part of Lynn University in January1999. She has remained a loyal patron of Lynn’s conservatory by making an annual gift every year since 2006.
She attends most of Lynn’s afternoon concerts and master classes. “I appreciate the musicianship of the students. I have no musical ability at all. I can whistle and sing in the shower, but I’m not even singing in the shower so much anymore,” she quipped.
“Lynn’s conservatory is marvelous. It has a phenomenal philharmonia orchestra director in Guillermo Figueroa. I love the talks he gives before each concert so the audience can better understand the music that is about to be played.”
Before moving to Florida with her husband in 1994, the native Manhattanite took full advantage of New York City’s cultural offerings: opera at Lincoln Center, symphonic concerts at Carnegie Hall and exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
“I’ve always loved the arts. Music has been so important to my life since I was a young teenager.”
Birnbach, who holds a doctorate in education, is a registered nurse and a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing. She was described as a “Renaissance woman” by those who nominated her for induction into the American Nurses Association Hall of Fame in 2010.
As a student at Kings County Hospital School of Nursing in Brooklyn, New York, she enrolled in the U.S. Cadet NurseCorps, a program established in 1943 by order of U.S. Congress to alleviate the critical shortage of nurses during World War II. The student nurses pledged to serve in civilian, military or federal government services.
Throughout her career, Birnbach made many contributions as a practitioner, educator, researcher and extraordinary volunteer with a great vision for nursing.
She is the proud mother of three daughters, who have given her six grandchildren and six great grandchildren.