Ruth Gay (née Slotkin; October 19, 1922 – May 9, 2006) was an American writer whose work concerned Jewish life. She won the 1997

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature.

Early life and education

Ruth Slotkin was born to Harry Slotkin and Mary (Pfeffer) Slotkin on October 19, 1922, in New York City. Although she grew up in

The Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, her family moved to

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

due to her father's job. As a result, she transferred to

Queens College Queens College (QC) is a public college in the Queens borough of New York City. It is part of the City University of New York system. Its 80-acre campus is primarily located in Flushing, Queens. It has a student body representing more than 170 ...

, where she was a member of the leftist student

Zionist Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is known in Je ...

organization. Slotkin earned a bachelor's degree from Queens College and a master's in

library science Library science (often termed library studies, bibliothecography, and library economy) is an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary field that applies the practices, perspectives, and tools of management, information technology, education, and ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in 1969.

Career

From 1948 to 1950 she was the editor of the JDC Review of the

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC, is a Jewish relief organization based in New York City. Since 1914 the organisation has supported Jewish people living in Israel and throughout the world. The organization i ...

. In 1997, Gay received the

National Jewish Book Award The Jewish Book Council (Hebrew: ), founded in 1944, is an organization encouraging and contributing to Jewish literature. In 2002, she published "Safe Among the Germans: Liberated Jews After World War II" through the

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

Personal life

Ruth Slotkin was first married to sociologist

Nathan Glazer Nathan Glazer (February 25, 1923 – January 19, 2019) was an American sociologist who taught at the University of California, Berkeley, and for several decades at Harvard University. He was a co-editor of the now-defunct policy journal ''The Pu ...

in 1942; during this 15-year marriage they had three daughters. She published extensively in ''

Commentary Commentary or commentaries may refer to: Publications * ''Commentary'' (magazine), a U.S. public affairs journal, founded in 1945 and formerly published by the American Jewish Committee * Caesar's Commentaries (disambiguation), a number of works ...

'' and other publications during this period. They divorced in 1957. Slotkin married historian

Peter Gay Peter Joachim Gay (né Fröhlich; June 20, 1923 – May 12, 2015) was a German-American historian, educator, and author. He was a Sterling Professor of History at Yale University and former director of the New York Public Library's Center for Sch ...

in 1959. Gay died in 2006 from leukemia.

Publications

* ''Safe among the Germans liberated Jews after World War II'' (New Haven, CT:

, 2002) * ''Unfinished People: Eastern European Jews Encounter America'' (New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997) * ''The Jews of Germany: A Historical Portrait'' (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992)

External links

“Biographical Note.” Guide to the Ruth Gay Collection 1980s–1993, 2002.
Processed by Yakov Illich Sklar.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gay, Ruth Jewish women writers Jewish American writers 1922 births 2006 deaths Queens College, City University of New York alumni Columbia University School of Library Service alumni 20th-century American Jews 21st-century American Jews Jewish American non-fiction writers