Avis de décès de Ruth Smith - Nécrologie - MesAieux.com

SMITH--Ruth Proskauer, a reproductive-rights and choice-in-dying advocate who helped found NARAL, died January 22 at the age of 102. She died peacefully at home surrounded by family, exactly the sort of death for which she had advocated for decades. She was a field worker and executive secretary of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts (1946-1953). She was a cofounder of NARAL in 1969. She helped draft the Cook-Leichter Act of 1970, establishing abortion as a woman's legal choice in NY State. A board member and officer of the Euthanasia Society of America and the Society for the Right to Die, and a major supporter of Compassion & Choices, she was a lifelong advocate for terminally ill patients' right to choose a "good death." She organized a long-running seminar on the Supreme Court at Quest, a group that offers classes taught for and by retired professionals. The daughter of Joseph M. and Alice Naumburg Proskauer, she was born in Deal, New Jersey, on August 14, 1907. She is survived by two children, Anthony R. Smith and Gael S. Arnold, six grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. There will be no funeral. Family and friends will be notified of a celebration of her life and legacy. In lieu of flowers, please support Compassion & Choices or NARAL Pro-Choice NY.