RUTH WEINROTT

Ruth Weinrott, a former City of Hope fundraiser and Las Vegas resident since 1994, died peacefully Sunday, June 9. She was 90. After moving to Sun City Summerlin with husband, Hershel Weinrott, Ruth became active in several community organizations, including the women’s auxiliary of Jewish War Veterans Post 21, League of Women Voters of Southern Nevada and VA Clinic. Ruth’s Volunteer activities included reading to school children who attended Lummis Elementary School in Summerlin. Representing Post 21, she also coordinated the annual Lummis program Americanism, which encouraged fifth graders to write essays on what it is like to be an American. The winning student was awarded $100. A world traveler, Ruth visited Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, Tahiti, the Caribbean and the Middle East. She also traveled the entire U.S. Route 66 from Southern California to Chicago. A fan of Hollywood musicals and comedies, she bore a striking resemblance in her youth to Oscar-winning actress Greer Garson. She attended numerous Broadway plays and was a season ticket holder at the Smith Center for Performing Arts. Proficient at mahjong, crossword puzzles and Scrabble, Ruth also was a big thoroughbred racing fan with an uncanny ability to pick winners of the Kentucky Derby. Her favorite horse, Mother Ruth, never ran the derby but Ruth held the winning ticket when the mare won a stakes race at Hollywood Park. Born April 29, 1929, to Russian immigrants Max and Pauline Markowitz in Brooklyn, N.Y., Ruth attended Thomas Jefferson High School in that city. She moved to Southern California in the late 1940s and married Marvin Kanigher, a school teacher. Three years after his death in 1964, Ruth married Hershel Weinrott, a World War II veteran who sold fabric to fashion designers in Southern California. Ruth spent many years in Los Angeles raising funds for City of Hope, a leading research and treatment center for cancer, diabetes and other life-threatening diseases. She and her husband retired in 1994 and moved to Sun City Summerlin from Van Nuys, Calif. She was preceded in death by Marvin Kanigher, Hershel Weinrott; son-in-law, Stanley Motzkin of Van Nuys; and her parents. She is survived by son, Steve Kanigher of Las Vegas; daughter, Eileen Motzkin of Van Nuys; sister, Sylvia Maraine of Israel; stepdaughters; and step-grandchildren. Services will be at 2:30 p.m. Mon., June 17, at Palm Mortuary, 7400 W. Cheyenne Ave., Las Vegas, NV 89129. Burial will be at the Southern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery, 1900 Veterans Memorial Dr, Boulder City, NV 89005. In lieu of flowers, donations in Ruth’s name can be made to City of Hope in Los Angeles or Opportunity Village in Las Vegas.