Mitch Kittenplan
Mitch was born in the Bronx and raised in Jackson Heights. He’s a proud graduate of Stuyvesant High School, and attended New York University’s School of Education on a full tuition scholarship. While there he was president of the largest fraternity at NYU, Phi Epsilon Pi.
After graduation he started a teaching career that spanned 35 years. In that time he served as president of the New York City Technology Education Association for six years and also served on the Board of the New York State Technology Education Association.
Mitch received numerous teaching awards including New York City Technology Teacher of the Year in 1993, and New York State Technology Teacher of the Year in 1995.
He also displayed his thespian talents by starring in several plays, including “Don’t Drink the Water”, “You Can’t Take It With You”, “The Matchmaker”, “The Mouse That Roared”, and “Harvey”.
If that didn’t keep him busy enough, he started a thriving Ceramic business at home, and went on to spend nearly 15 years in sales and management at Hassel Volvo, in Huntington, and Volvo of Fort Myers.
Mitch bought his first house in East Northport in 1979. After marrying Lois in 1991 they moved to Franklin Square and later they bought a house in Cold Spring Hills. From there life took them down to Fort Myers Florida, where they spent nearly a decade. Besides enjoying playing golf year round, and serving on the Board of Temple Beth El of Fort Myers, Mitch used his graphic design skills to land a job working for the Minnesota Twins baseball team, and their Fort Myers Miracle farm team. He designed all the team graphics and ran the stadium scoreboards for years.
While commuting back and forth between Fort Myers and Long Island, Mitch began regularly attending services at Temple Beth El of Huntington in 2015. After selling the Florida house and making the move back to New York in 2017, Lois and Mitch joined Temple Beth El as gift members.
In the decade since Mitch found TBE, he has served as Vice President of the Men’s Club, Secretary of the Temple Board, President of the Temple from 2021 - 2023, Immediate Past President, Chairman of the Temple Community Celebration, Chairman of the Annual Golf Outing, and wherever else he was needed.
He was touched to be honored at this year’s Temple Community Celebration. The TBE community has embraced Mitch and he has embraced them back. He said that serving as Temple President was the most rewarding experience of his life.
