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Former Brandeis professor dies at 75
News | 11/14/06
Posted online at 6:02 AM EST on 11/14/06
BOSTON-Ruth Morgenthau, a professor emeritus of politics at Brandeis who escaped the Nazis as a child and went on to work as an adviser to three presidents and the United Nations, died last Saturday at the age of 75.
As the Adlai Stevenson professor of politics at Brandeis, Morgenthau had chaired the politics department here and was the founding director of the Heller School for Social Policy's graduate program in international sustainable development.
Ms. Morgenthau died at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, according to a hospital spokeswoman. She had been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a disorder that disrupts the production of blood cells, according to The Boston Globe.
Ms. Morgenthau came to the United States in 1940 with her family, which had left its native Austria in 1938, fleeing the Nazis. After graduating from Barnard College in New York, she studied in Paris on a Fulbright scholarship then went on to earn her doctorate from Oxford University.
Ms. Morgenthau became an expert on French-speaking West Africa and later put her international skills to use as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations. She worked as a political adviser to presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter and advised several presidential campaigns, including those of Michael Dukakis, Bill Bradley and Paul Tsongas.
Prof. Steven Burg (POL), the current politics chair, worked with Ms. Morgenthau for over 20 years. He said she was a leading proponent of microfinancing-a process in which members of impoverished communities receive small loans, under $100, to start their own businesses and lift themselves out of poverty. It is now a widespread practice in the third world.
"She was clearly ahead of her time," Burg said.
"Although she was a scholar, she liked to put her ideas into practice," her husband, Henry Morgenthau, told The Boston Globe.
- Michael Grillo contributed to this article
As the Adlai Stevenson professor of politics at Brandeis, Morgenthau had chaired the politics department here and was the founding director of the Heller School for Social Policy's graduate program in international sustainable development.
Ms. Morgenthau died at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, according to a hospital spokeswoman. She had been diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, a disorder that disrupts the production of blood cells, according to The Boston Globe.
Ms. Morgenthau came to the United States in 1940 with her family, which had left its native Austria in 1938, fleeing the Nazis. After graduating from Barnard College in New York, she studied in Paris on a Fulbright scholarship then went on to earn her doctorate from Oxford University.
Ms. Morgenthau became an expert on French-speaking West Africa and later put her international skills to use as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations. She worked as a political adviser to presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Jimmy Carter and advised several presidential campaigns, including those of Michael Dukakis, Bill Bradley and Paul Tsongas.
Prof. Steven Burg (POL), the current politics chair, worked with Ms. Morgenthau for over 20 years. He said she was a leading proponent of microfinancing-a process in which members of impoverished communities receive small loans, under $100, to start their own businesses and lift themselves out of poverty. It is now a widespread practice in the third world.
"She was clearly ahead of her time," Burg said.
"Although she was a scholar, she liked to put her ideas into practice," her husband, Henry Morgenthau, told The Boston Globe.
- Michael Grillo contributed to this article
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