Ruth Gonze

Ruth Gonze, a resident of the Washington D.C. area from 1970 to 2010, died peacefully on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, at Casa Real Health Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico, at age 73. Ruth was born Ann Ruth Scheidt on October 25, 1937 in Charlotte, North Carolina, to Ruth and Edward Scheidt. She attended Brooklyn Friends School and Tenafly High School in Tenafly, New Jersey, from which she graduated in 1954 and where she founded the school's literary magazine, The Unicorn, which is still published today. In 1958 she received a B.A. from Stanford University, and later attended graduate school at San Francisco State University. From 1959 to 1970 she lived on the lower east side in New York City before moving to Washington D.C. In the early 1970s she worked on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. as a legislative analyst and speechwriter for U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum. After leaving Capitol Hill she worked as a lobbyist from 1975 to 1990 at the American Public Power Association, a trade association. Her marriage to Collin Gonze ended in divorce in 1976. Ruth was passionate about books, politics, gardening, travel, going to the ballet, Renaissance art, and French food. She was a lifelong Democrat and member of the American Civil Liberties Union. She is survived by her two sons, Josh Gonze of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Lucas Gonze of Oakland, California; three grandchildren; and her sister and brother-in-law Elsa and Norman Rush of New City, New York.