Gail Rubin (April 12, 1938 – March 11, 1978) was an American freelance photographer. During her career, she worked as both a

war photographer ''War Photographer'' is a documentary by Christian Frei about the photographer James Nachtwey. As well as telling the story of an iconic man in the field of war photography, the film addresses the broader scope of ideas common to all those inv ...

and a

nature photographer Nature photography is a wide range of photography taken outdoors and devoted to displaying natural elements such as landscapes, wildlife, plants, and close-ups of natural scenes and textures. Nature photography tends to put a stronger emphasis o ...

. She was killed by Palestinian terrorists in a 1978 attack that became known as the Coastal Road massacre.

Biography

Rubin was the only child of American businessman Jonathan Rubin and psychologist Estelle Rubin. She grew up in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 96th Street to the north, the East River to the east, 59th Street to the south, and Central Park/Fifth Avenue to the wes ...

and attended the

Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located in ...

, graduating in 1956. She then began undergraduate studies at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, and graduated from

Finch College Finch College was an undergraduate women's college in Manhattan, New York City. The Finch School opened as a private secondary school for girls in 1900 and became a liberal arts college in 1952. It closed in 1976. Founding Finch was founded in ...

in New York in 1960. She worked in editorial positions with

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

and New Directions, and became managing editor at

Delacorte Books Dell Publishing Company, Inc. is an American publisher of books, magazines and comic books, that was founded in 1921 by George T. Delacorte Jr. with $10,000 (approx. $145,000 in 2021), two employees and one magazine title, ''I Confess'', and ...

. In 1969 she traveled to

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

on vacation and decided to move there. There, she worked as a nature photographer, and served as a war photographer during the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

and the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by Egy ...

. Her nature work was featured in ''U.S. Camera'', Time-Life's ''Nature Science Annual'' 1976, ''Natural History'', and Time-Life's ''Photography Annual'' 1979. Her work was exhibited at the

Jewish Museum A Jewish museum is a museum which focuses upon Jews and may refer seek to explore and share the Jewish experience in a given area. List of Jewish museums Notable Jewish museums include: *Albania ** Solomon Museum, Berat *Australia ** Jewish Muse ...

in New York in February 1977, as well as at the Magnes Museum in Berkeley, California, and the

Israel Museum The Israel Museum ( he, מוזיאון ישראל, ''Muze'on Yisrael'') is an art and archaeological museum in Jerusalem. It was established in 1965 as Israel's largest and foremost cultural institution, and one of the world’s leading encyclopa ...

in Jerusalem.

Death

On March 11, 1978, Rubin was photographing birds at the

Ma'agan Michael Ma'agan Michael ( he, מַעֲגַן מִיכָאֵל, ''lit.'' Michael's Anchorage) is a kibbutz in northern Israel. Located on the Mediterranean Sea coast between Haifa and Hadera, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hof HaCarmel Regional Counci ...

kibbutz A kibbutz ( he, קִבּוּץ / , lit. "gathering, clustering"; plural: kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1909, was Degania. Today, farming h ...

in northern

. She was approached by a group of Palestinian terrorists who asked her where they were, after which they killed her and stole her car. She was the first of 38 people to die in what became the Coastal Road massacre. She was shot dead by

Dalal Mughrabi Dalal Mughrabi ( ar, دلال المغربي, ; ''c.'' 1959 – 11 March 1978) was a Palestinian militant who was a member of the Fatah faction of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and participated in the 1978 Coastal Road massacre ...

. She was a relative of then-U.S. Senator

Abraham Ribicoff Abraham Alexander Ribicoff (April 9, 1910 – February 22, 1998) was an American Democratic Party politician from the state of Connecticut. He represented Connecticut in the United States House of Representatives and Senate and was the 80th ...

, who denounced her killing as "an indefensible act of terrorism that deserves universal condemnation". Labor reporter

A. H. Raskin Abraham Henry Raskin (April 26, 1911 – December 22, 1993), known as A. H. Raskin, was a Canadian-born labor reporter, editorial writer, and assistant editor of ''The New York Times'' from 1934 to 1977.Severo, Richard (December 23, 1993)"A. ...

delivered the eulogy at her funeral. She was buried at Union Field Cemetery in

Ridgewood, Queens Ridgewood is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It borders the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Middle Village and Glendale, as well as the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Bushwick and East Williamsburg. Historically, the neighborhood s ...

Legacy

Her nature photography was the subject of a posthumous publication ''Psalmist with a Camera'' in 1979; her parents were instrumental in assembling the volume. A traveling exhibit of her works opened in 1987 at the

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...

in New York and traveled to 15 other locations including the Cathedral of St. John the Divine,

Long Island University Long Island University (LIU) is a private university with two main campuses, LIU Post and LIU Brooklyn, in the U.S. state of New York. It offers more than 500 academic programs at its main campuses, online, and at multiple non-residential. LIU ...

and the

Bronx Museum of the Arts The Bronx Museum of the Arts (BxMA), also called the Bronx Museum of Art or simply the Bronx Museum, is an American cultural institution located in Concourse, Bronx, New York. The museum focuses on contemporary and 20th-century works created by A ...

. The final exhibit location was at the

Jerusalem Theatre The Jerusalem Theatre ( he, תיאטרון ירושלים, The Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts) is a centre for the performing arts in Jerusalem. The theatre opened in 1971. The complex consists of the Sherover Theatre, which seats 95 ...

in Israel in 1989.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rubin, Gail 1938 births 1978 deaths Nature photographers War photographers Photographers from New York City University of Michigan alumni Finch College alumni Murdered American Jews American emigrants to Israel Israeli photographers Israeli terrorism victims American terrorism victims 20th-century American women photographers 20th-century American photographers Women photojournalists