Chavez, Robert

Sophia Maier Garcia, Fordham University

Abstract

Robert Chavez, born 1945, lived on Undercliff Avenue in the Bronx after his family settled there from Eastern Europe. His maternal grandparents immigrated from Russia, where his grandmother was adopted into the Tsar’s court. They bought a farm in Rockland County, where Chavez’s uncle was hidden for fear of getting drafted into WWII. His father, a traveling salesman, came from Brooklyn and joined the close knit family. Chavez remembers his building being a filled with first and second generation Jewish families, and became friendly with Puerto Rican peers in school. Being a middle child, he remembers playing with his brother and his friends in the neighborhood. Particularly the “magic” of marble season stood out to him.

Chavez was held at knife point in the seventh grade, prompting the family to move to the farm in Rockland County. His time there in middle and high school is remembered negatively, but he learned many building skills like carpentry and electrical work. When he graduated from high school, he and his older brother returned to the family’s apartment in the Bronx. He says this time period is when the neighborhood really started to get bad, which he attributes to the influx of non-Jews moving in. Chavez attended Hunter College at night and, upon graduating, worked as a science teacher at Jane Addams Vocational High School and Taft High School. This period of his life is remembered fondly as he considered teaching a profession with important consequences for upholding American ideals. He then attended Howard University for dental school. Chavez also has a love of orthodontics because he feels there, too, he is making a difference, giving people good smiles. He continued to educate others throughout his dental career, something he attributes to his grandfather.

Chavez explains his family name was changed from Chafitz to avoid antisemitism, and that most of his family now goes by Chase. Yet, overall, the Bronx is remembered as a true land of opportunity, potential, and anticipation. He felt that when growing up there, there was nothing that could stop someone from achieving their dreams.