Obituary: Joan Munzner, longtime teacher passed along passion for French

Joan Munzner loved her students, fencing, hedgehogs and all things French.

The longtime teacher died last month at age 81 after a long battle with Parkinson's.

Munzner, of Minneapolis, was a French teacher until age 70. She spent her early years at Minnetonka High School, later taught at Breck and was a founding member of Mounds Park Academy, a private school in St. Paul.

She was also instrumental in creating the first teachers union for private schoolteachers while at Breck.

Her colleagues, family and former students remember her as a lifelong learner, who wanted to instill that same passion in those around her.

"Her idea of teaching was radically different from what you saw on TV," said Maureen Conway, a former colleague. "For her, you had to love the kids to teach them."

Former students and fellow teachers told stories of her passion in the classroom on social media.

"She kindled in me a love of France, the language, the poetry, the country. … And she made me feel worthwhile," Bruce Tammen, a student of hers in 1967, wrote on a remembrance page. "I never saw her again after I graduated, and certainly never told her how much she had meant to me. That is often the kind of thanks teachers get."

Munzner grew up in Robbinsdale and graduated from Robbinsdale High School in 1952. She studied French and German at the University of Minnesota, where she received both a bachelor's and master's degree in French.

While in college, Munzner was a champion fencer. She met her husband, Aribert, in a fencing club.

Munzner's daughter Tamara said her parents would talk to each other in French and German when they didn't want her and her sister, Naomi, to understand them.

Tamara said she remembered thinking she would never be a grown-up until she went to Paris.

That love for French language and culture was also instilled in Munzner's middle-school students. She was also the Quiz Bowl coach and traveled often to France with students.

Several former students wrote about the influence she had on their lives.

"I was not very good at French," one wrote. "So it wasn't until I was studying to be a teacher that I started to realize how committed [she] was to helping me learn."

While at Breck School, Munzner was also a mentor to other teachers. Unhappy with how the administration was running the school, Tamara said, Munzner was instrumental in organizing the teachers and founding the first union of private schoolteachers in the state.

Munzner, along with a few other Breck administrators and teachers, went on to found Mounds Park Academy in 1982.

At the time, Conway had recently become a teacher and only had one year of experience. Munzner asked her to teach French at Mounds Park.

Conway said she did not feel prepared because she was expecting to teach history, but Munzner mentored her and taught her "everything I know about teaching."

"She had absolute control of the classroom," said Conway. "It's very hard to be a master teacher and a mentor. She was both."

Aside from French, Munzner also loved animals, including a particular affection for rabbits and hedgehogs. She and her husband would visit the Minnesota Zoo every year on their anniversary. Her family held her remembrance services at the zoo.

Survivors include her husband, daughters Naomi Munzner of Minneapolis and Tamara Munzner of Vancouver, and sister Fay Cumber of St. Louis Park.

Alejandra Matos • 612-673-4028