Marie Waife (; ) was an American writer best known for writing the 1968 biography, ''My Father,

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'', about the brilliant

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author and playwright.

Biography

Marie Waife was born in Odessa,

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

(now

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

), in 1892, as the fifth child of Sholem Aleichem and his wife Olga (). She lived in various locations throughout Europe including Switzerland, Germany, and Italy due to financial insecurity until 1914, when she and her family migrated to the United States, residing in the Lower East Side of New York City. She married the writer and journalist Benjamin Waife (known by his pen name Ben Zion Goldberg) in 1917 and had two sons: Sholom and Mitchell. In 1968, Waife published a biography of her father titled ''My Father, Sholem Aleichem'', the first complete biography of the famous writer. She was known for holding meetings at her New York residence on the anniversary of Aleichem's death to read his works. Waife died in 1985 and was survived by her sons.

References

1892 births 1985 deaths 20th-century American women writers Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United States Jewish women writers Jewish writers Odesa Jews Writers from New York City {{US-bio-writer-stub