Second Career:

"Young at Heart" Bookseller Continues to Achieve
Harold Dinzes, bookseller
Clifton, New Jersey

Harold Dinzes is not the typical college student.  If you saw him on campus, you would need to look beyond the jeans and backpack to see that Harold is more than four times as old as the average college student.  If you look closely at his hat, you wouldn’t find a sports team logo, but rather, that it is a veteran’s hat.  And if you speak with Harold, you’ll find a man who has taken full advantage of every minute. 

Harold, who is possibly America’s oldest college student and oldest bookseller at over 90 years old, has been in the news quite a lot.  Around the 2007 Veterans Day holiday, local newspapers The Record and The Herald, as well as NBC’s national “Nightly News,” ran stories about the Passaic, NJ, native, who has served in two wars (WWII and Korea) and is now attending college.  You can also find him on the website of his school, Montclair State University.

Like many others, Harold first came to Barnes & Noble as a customer, to purchase and read books on the subjects that fascinate him the most – archeology, anthropology and, especially, history.  After he retired from his plumbing supply business, he applied to become a bookseller at our Clifton, NJ, store at the age of 84!

Apparently being a bookseller didn’t keep Harold quite busy enough.  So, he decided to pursue his greatest passion – studying and learning.  At the age of 88, he applied to and was accepted by Montclair State University.

During his seven-plus years with Barnes & Noble, Harold has managed his work schedule around his classes, stating, “I need to be able to do justice to work and school, or I wouldn’t continue with both.”  But a special holiday he always takes off is, of course, Veterans Day.

Harold is a unique role model to his fellow booksellers.  At the store's holiday meeting, he was acknowledged for being a great team member with a standing ovation.  One would have to assume that there’s going to be quite a party at the Clifton store when Harold receives his 10-year pin in 2010!