Dorothy Sanders: How Did Bernie Sanders’ Mother Die?

Dorothy Sanders is the late mother of Bernard ‘Bernie’ Sanders. Dorothy Sanders’s son is a politician and activist who is the senior United States senator from Vermont. In 2023, he became chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, and the senior senator and dean of the Vermont congressional delegation. Dorothy is also the mother of politician Larry Sanders who is the ex Health and Social Care Spokesperson of the Green Party of England and Wales.

Dorothy Sanders: Bio Summary

Who Was Bernie Sanders’ Mother, Dorothy Sanders?

Dorothy Sanders also known as “Dora” was born Dorothy Glassberg in October 1912, in New York City, New York County, New York, United States. She was the girl child of Jewish immigrants from Radzyń Podlaski, in eastern Poland and Russia. Benjamin Glassberg and Breine “Bessie” Greenberg were her parents. She wasn’t the only child of her parents, which means she has siblings.

Dorothy is said to have been raised in a Bronx family of seven children. She was the sister of Saul Solomon (Sholem) Glassberg, Willie Glassberg, John Glassberg, Max Glassberg, Zelda Barash, and Faye Green. She was married to Elias Ben Yehuda Sanders also known as Eli Sanders (1904–1962), a Polish-Jewish immigrant who immigrated to the United States.

Dorothy Sanders’s husband Eli worked as a paint salesman. The two were married on 28 July 1934, in the Bronx, New York, according to Wikitree. They had two children, Lawrence ‘Larry’ Sanders (b. April 29, 1935) and Bernard ‘Bernie’ Sanders (b. September 8, 1941). Dorothy was a homemaker who valued her family. The family struggled financially. Dorothy and her family lived in a rent-controlled apartment in Brooklyn.

Dorothy’s dream was for her family to move out of the apartment but unfortunately, she died while her family still lived in that apartment. “Coming from a lower middle class family I will never forget how money – or really lack of money – was always a point of stress in our home,” her son Bernie Sanders revealed. “My mother’s dream was that someday we would move out of that rent-controlled apartment to a home of our own.”

On #NationalImmigrantsDay, I am proud of our country for welcoming millions around the world seeking refuge from violence, racism and poverty—people like my father who came here from Poland at the age of 17.

This is the America that we must be. pic.twitter.com/AufzoyGs0l

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) October 28, 2019

“That dream was never fulfilled. She died young while we were still living in that apartment.” Dorothy became an uncompromising scrimper and bargain hunter. She helped her husband provide for their family. She encouraged her sons Larry Sanders and Bernie Sanders to work hard in school. Both sons attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn.

ALSO, READ: Eli Sanders: What Happened To Bernie Sanders’ Father?

Dorothy Sanders and Eli Sanders are the foundational pillars in their sons’ lives. Both sons have become very successful and well-known. Larry Sanders is an academic, social worker, and politician. He used to be the Health and Social Care Spokesperson of the Green Party of England and Wales. Bernie Sanders is a politician and activist. He serves as the senior United States senator from Vermont.

Dorothy Sanders passed away at the time her children were still young however, she is one of her children’s role models. Bernie Sanders said of his parents: “I did not have a mom and dad who gave me millions of dollars to build luxury skyscrapers and casinos and country clubs. But I had something more valuable: I had the role model of a father who had unbelievable courage in journeying across an ocean, with no money in his pocket and not knowing a word of English.”

Larry Sanders also said of his parents: “I want to bring before this convention the names of our parents, Eli Sanders and Dorothy Glassberg Sanders. They did not have easy lives, and they died young. They would be immensely proud of their son and his accomplishments. They loved him. They loved the New Deal of Franklin Roosevelt and would be especially proud that Bernard is renewing that mission. It is with enormous pride that I cast my vote for Bernie Sanders.”

How Did Bernie Sanders’ Mother Die?

Dorothy Sanders is said to have had rheumatic fever as a child and became ill from the long-term effects. She died on March 25, 1960, at the age of 47, in New York, USA. She passed away after a second failed heart surgery. She died leaving behind her husband Eli Sanders and her two sons Larry Sanders and Bernie Sanders. “Losing one’s mother at the age of, I believe, 18 … was very, very difficult,” Bernie Sanders said.

ALSO, READ: Deborah Shiling, Bernie Sanders’ ex-wife

“In fact, I graduated Madison High School and went to Brooklyn College for one year, and I decided to leave Brooklyn because I kind of wanted to get away from the community that I’d grown up in.” Dorothy was buried at Glendale, Queens County, New York, United States. Her husband Eli Sanders died on August 04, 1962, when he was 57 years old in New York City, New York County, New York, United States.