JORDAN--Ruth Bennett, died on March 8, 2014, peacefully in New York City. Known as Rudy, she was born on September 11, 1924 in Chicago, one of five daughters of James Ewing Bennett and Mary Mable Dwyer. She attended the Girls' Latin School in Chicago and graduated from Sarah Lawrence College with a B.A. in 1946. Rudy served as a volunteer ambulance driver for the Red Cross Motor Corps in Chicago during World War II. She volunteered as a nurse's aide during and after college. A long term member of The Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York, New York, and St. John's Episcopal Church, Cold Spring Harbor, New York, Rudy was a person of strong values and a leader in ethics. Rudy studied at Columbia University Teacher's College towards a Master's degree in Teaching and taught English and American History for 10 years at The Lenox School in Manhattan. She subsequently earned her Juris Doctor from New York Law School in 1981, and was admitted to the New York State Bar in 1982 at the age of 57. She worked as an assistant in the Law Department at the New York County Surrogate's Court, and later at a law firm and also volunteered in the field of environmental law. Rudy was a direct descendant of Thomas Soule and Richard Warren of the Mayflower. She was a long term member of the Colony Club, The New York Junior League, the Cold Spring Harbor Beach Club and The Colonial Dames of America. She was a champion bridge player, representing the bridge team for the Colony Club for many years. She was interviewed by Dan Rather on CBS 60 Minutes II, and by others on television, on the topic of the Dennis Kozlowski, Tyco International Ltd. trial, in which she was involved. She advocated that as there was not sufficient evidence in the initial trial to establish the defendant's guilt, as she saw it, the presumption of innocence must prevail. Rudy was an optimist and an idealist; a person of great fortitude and original thought. Always supportive of her children and grandchildren, and an extremely warm and devoted mother, she set an example of determination and creative solutions in the face of adversity. Rudy is survived by her two children, Jennifer Jordan McCall and William Winston Jordan, a daughter-in-law, Denise A. Walter, three grandchildren, Caroline Debevoise Clark, Hillary Sage Clark and Samantha Marie Jordan, and by a sister, Joan Bennett Gordon of Glenview, Illinois. A Memorial Service will be held at 10:30am on Saturday, March 15 at St. John's Episcopal Church, Cold Spring Harbor, New York.