Sandy M. Pelz '71 50th Anniversary Celebration
Half a Century of Purpose
A career of joy, curiosity, and Grytte for Sanford Pelz ’71
When asked the secret to his longevity at The Browning School, Director of College Guidance Sanford Pelz ’71, replies “I don't like change!” But that simple statement can't possibly explain the joy, curiosity and purpose with which Mr. Pelz approaches his work, and the boys, in his 51st year of teaching.
While his Browning employment story starts with a job offer in an uncertain economy, it's no surprise that the man whose Subaru's vanity license plate says “Grytte” can still remember moments from his student revisit day in 1965.
“I know what room I was in, and I remember the teacher,” Mr. Pelz says. “By the time I was in 11th grade, I couldn’t even remember that I had ever visited another school—my mother had to show me her notes!” He happily entered Grade 7 (then called Form I) here and hasn't looked back since.
While majoring in physics at Colorado College, Mr. Pelz thought of becoming a professor. However, a recessionary job market made him receptive to a math faculty job offered by Donald Smith, the math department chair at Browning. Luckily for Browning, the work Mr. Pelz thought he'd do for ‘a year or two’ turned into a lifelong commitment to educating thousands of boys and providing crucial guidance for the next step in their educational journey. While in his early career Mr. Pelz entertained other opportunities, including at Hunter College High School (“I'd have twice the number of students and the salary was roughly the same so I said to heck with that”), a move to Greenwich Village proved pivotal to his evolution as a Browning teacher. “I started taking courses at the New School in communications,” he says, “and I found something I could learn at night and use it the next morning in my classes.”
Soon he was pursuing his Masters in Media Studies at the New School, and creating an interdisciplinary class he would teach for more than 40 years—Science, Technology and Society. “That's something I’m very proud of. I tell prospective parents that college guidance programs are more alike than they are different. We have the same end game. But STS was all about exposing boys to different books and topics each year. I still have all those books on my shelves.”
Those shelves are now in a new building, and perhaps unsurprisingly, Mr. Pelz has thoughts about the two-campus structure. “My wife teaches at Little Red Elizabeth Irwin School and with two campuses, it can seem like two different institutions," he says. "I was on the board at Grace, and the first thing I had to do was to vote on building a high school. Again, different buildings have different characters. However, Browning leadership has been really intentional in trying to make sure that both buildings remain tied strongly to our core values. I've been surprised at how happy I've been here at 64.”
“My mother was in admissions for 20 years. I’m good at the therapy and diplomacy—both of which are part of the job.”
Over his decades behind the Red Doors, Mr. Pelz has witnessed the impact of world events on life at Browning. "What immediately comes to mind is 9-11," Mr. Pelz says, who has lived in an Battery Park City apartment with “amazing river views” since 1985. “My wife was working downtown, my kids were at Grace Church School and Theresa (Rodriguez, now Browning's Operations Manager) was telling me I had to get on the phone to my wife because a plane had hit the Towers. And then I had to go teach.”
Like many schools, Browning stayed open until families could collect their children, and the Pelz family decamped that night to the Upper East Side because Battery Park City was not accessible. “The school community was so incredibly kind to my family,” Mr. Pelz says, “I remember receiving gift cards, and people trying to find us an apartment until we could move back home. (Former Headmaster) Steve Clement showed a lot of flexibility in terms of my time and graciously told me, ‘You do what you need to do for your family.’ ”
Two decades later, the COVID-19 virus upended the world once again. “It was more of an existential threat than 9-11 was, but the school still had to manage it in some rational way, and to go from Spring Break to a fully online school in two weeks was memorable,” Mr. Pelz says. “Then coming back to school in September—that time was a defining moment for Browning. We are really good at pulling together and that was evident then.”
Through it all, Mr. Pelz has been a steadfast champion of Browning boys in the college guidance process, which he has led since 1989. He works with every boy in the Upper School, including many who are the sons of men he guided through the process decades before. “I call them my grandchildren and it's amazing,” Mr. Pelz says. He even counseled his own twin sons through the process.
It’s fitting that this job is still exciting for the former college tour guide. “If a guide didn’t show up, the office called me because they knew I'd be there, even if I was sound asleep. I’d be there in eight minutes to give the best tour that prospective students ever had.” And as generations of boys who have been on Browning's signature college trip have seen firsthand, there's no better planner of a trip designed to teach how to assess college fit.
Pelz's science background also lent itself to the early adoption of data mining. “I approached college guidance by building a database starting on day one—this was 15 years before Naviance (a college guidance database) was around. Data is important to help boys make good decisions.” Another skill, which he allows might be genetic, is collaborating with families. “My mother was in admissions for 20 years. I'm good at the therapy and diplomacy—both of which are part of the job. I’m good at getting parents and boys to acknowledge another's point of view. And sometimes I’m just pulling the kid aside and saying ‘you're applying to a bunch of places for a bunch of different reasons. This one I want you to apply to as a favor to me, because it’s a good choice for you.’”
Mr. Pelz has many success stories, often about boys who were initially dismayed at their college choices and a semester later couldn't imagine being anywhere else, or who were able to secure financial aid awards when it appeared that no funding was available. Sometimes they involve getting a boy to have the confidence to apply to a school where he believed he wouldn't be admitted. “I've always said, they don't always get into the places they think they want to go," he adds. “They get into the places they ought to be going.”
Asked to reflect on what is timeless at Browning (besides himself), Mr. Pelz emphasizes the high quality of a Browning education. “We've always had awesome faculty. I had amazing teachers, my sons had amazing teachers, and today, I see colleagues building great relationships with boys. I look back and realize that Browning faculty taught me things I wouldn't appreciate until decades later.”
LIGHTNING ROUND WITH MR. PELZ
First word that comes to mind when you think of Browning?
What else? Grytte!
Favorite Browning tradition
I'm so proud of the Holiday Program every year. It's an event that's been going on since I was a student here, and it's unforgettable.
Advice I give every Browning senior
Calm down and take advantage of your senior year. It's so easy for them to focus on the application process and think 'Give me an A and we'll be good.' But I tell them 'You got awesome teachers here. You're learning awesome stuff. Savor it.'
Sandy M. Pelz '71 50th Anniversary Celebration
On October 6, 2025, members of the Browning community across alumni, current faculty, former faculty, family, and friends gathered to honor Sanford M. Pelz ‘71 P ’12 ’12 on 50 years of teaching at Browning, and 56 cumulative years at Browning, as an alumnus. It was a great evening of connecting the community under a shared purpose; celebrating our beloved college guidance counselor! View photos below.
