Gale Edgerton, beloved Brooklyn Heights professor and dog lover, dies at 72

‘A fixture, a legend’

February 12, 2024 Mary Frost

Brooklyn Heights resident Gale Edgerton used to carry a bag of unsalted peanuts just for her dog friend Harry, said owner Brian McCormick. Here she has Harry’s undivided attention. Photo courtesy Brian McCormick

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Brooklyn Heights resident Gale Edgerton — former adjunct lecturer at NYC College of Technology, math textbook author and firm friend to dogs — passed away in January. She was 72.

Edgerton left an indelible mark in the hearts of dogs and their owners in Brooklyn Heights, greeting pups by name, carrying treats to hand out, taking pet portraits for neighbors and volunteering at the Brooklyn Heights Association’s former community dog shows.

Brian McCormick, a member of the neighborhood’s tightly-knit dog community, called Edgerton “a fixture, a legend.” Her death is “a tremendous loss for the neighborhood,” he said.

“She was a retired math teacher, enjoyed archery, and always fashionably dressed,” he recalled.

Beloved Brooklyn Heights resident Gale Edgerton chats with Brian McCormick’s dog Harry. Photo courtesy Brian McCormick

McCormick shared photos of Edgerton chatting with his dog Harry and feeding him treats — and a whimsical Photoshopped image Edgerton made of Harry in the guise of a gunner in WWII’s B-17 Flying Fortress (which was nicknamed “Meat Hound” by the 423rd Bomb Squadron).

“She had also made photos that she printed out of my two former dogs, Homer and Ruby,” McCormick said. “She was Harry’s favorite person, and carried unsalted peanuts just for him. She liked to feed the birds, as well.”

“Everyone knew her,” said Andrea Demetropoulos, former owner of Brooklyn Heights pet store Rocco & Jezebel and volunteer with the Friends of Hillside Park Dog Park. “I knew Gale since 1982. She had a big, fluffy white Samoyed named Alaska, and other dogs, too.”

While Edgerton did not own any dogs herself in the last couple of years, she loved all kinds of animals, Demetropoulos said. “She would go into Walt Whitman Park and feed the pigeons.”

“She absolutely loved archery, too,” Demetropoulos said. “She would bring her bow and arrows to an archery place in Gowanus.”

Remembering her years as a math professor, Demetropoulos said that Edgerton “would joke how smart I was in math counting on my fingers.”

Gale Edgerton, beloved by the Brooklyn Heights dog-owning community, with Brian McCormick’s dog Harry. Photo courtesy Brian McCormick

‘Scruffy, Scruffy, Scruffles!’

“When we moved to Brooklyn Heights in 1990 we had just acquired a dog and we became immediate friends with Gale and her three dogs,” said Heights musician and teacher Tony Soll. “That dog friendship continued through the death of her dogs and two of our dogs.”

“My fondest memory is when we had our dog Scruffy, the first one she used to see us with, she would yell, ‘Scruffy, Scruffy, Scruffles!’ — to the dog’s delight, since there was always a treat reward. This continued through our next two dogs. What a lovely lady! We’ll miss her,” Soll said.

Gale Edgerton created whimsical Photoshopped images of neighborhood dogs and gave them to their owners, like this one of Brian McCormick’s dog Harry in the guise of a gunner in WWII’s B-17 Flying Fortress. Photo courtesy Brian McCormick

“She was a very nice lady and very smart,” said Sammy Atef, owner of Pet’s Emporium on Montague Street, who said Edgerton used to come into his shop all the time. “She loves the animals — she feeds all the birds. Rest in peace.”

Edgerton always had a friendly greeting for non-dog-owning neighbors as well, bringing them up to date on local events and sharing her joys and frustrations teaching math at CUNY’s City Tech before her retirement. In addition to teaching, she co-authored “A Brief Course in Arithmetic,” a text designed for students needing a refresher.

“She sent out emails to her friends every two weeks, letting people know about goings on in the neighborhood,” McCormick said.

He added that Edgerton always signed her emails:

gale

next of kin to the wayward wind