Ruth Stern Goldberg
- Ruth Stern Goldberg, the daughter of Max and Blanche Meisel of Mansfield, Ohio, died in Cupertino, California at 101 years of age on December 24, 2023. Ruth was born in Newark, New Jersey on May 22, 1922, and moved with her parents to Ohio as a young girl, first to Elyria and then to Mansfield. She graduated from Mansfield Senior High and spent two years at Ohio State before returning to Mansfield to work during the Depression. Ruth married Morton Stern (who was working with his parents in the family business, the Pepsi Bottling Co. of Mansfield) in 1942, while he was in the Army. The couple moved around the country until Mort was posted overseas (he ran a field hospital in England and France during the war) and settled back in Mansfield when he got out of the service. Their daughter Marcy was born in 1946 and their son Michael in 1948.
Mort died in 1964 and Ruth married Stanley Goldberg, of Columbus, Ohio, in 1966. She moved to Columbus and gained two “bonus daughters,” Dale and Marsha, as she liked to call her stepchildren. Ruth and Stanley became snowbirds in the late 1970s when Ruth’s parents moved to Florida and she and Stanley spent part of the winter in Hallandale and then Boca Raton, and finally a full six months each year in Boca after Stanley retired from his family business, Rite Rug. When Stanley died in 2001, Ruth moved to Boca full time. In 2018, she moved to the Forum at San Antonio independent living community in Cupertino.
Ruth was a devoted mother and wife, making happy and nurturing homes for her family. In Mansfield, she was active in Hadassah and B’nai Brith, and a stalwart member of the Friday night services kitchen crew at B’nai Jacob Synagogue. A liberal Democrat, she was always politically engaged, and was a pioneer in bringing teaching about diversity and social justice to the Mansfield public schools as a lecturer in the Dolls for Democracy program, which used figurines of important people from different backgrounds, professions, races and faiths (Albert Einstein, Ralph Bunche, Helen Keller, Gandhi, etc.)
CUPERTINO as tools to tell their life stories. In Columbus, she chaired major fundraising drives for Hadassah and ORT and was an active member of Congregation Agudas Achem. At the Forum in Cupertino, she was a formidable mahjong player and, as a lifetime bowler, routinely trounced players twenty or more years younger than she at bocce.
Ruth never lost her zest for living fully. She and Stanley traveled widely and fearlessly (they were among the very first American tourists to visit mainland China) and brought back beautiful pieces of art and furniture. She drove her sporty blue Jaguar until she was 97. She was an avid and voracious reader, keeping up with the best literary fiction, biographies and social commentary. Ruth maintained a fierce commitment to Democratic politics, closely following her favored candidates and issues and actively contributing to campaigns with letter writing, phone banking and donations well into her 101st year. She was also a generous donor to Jewish organizations and secular charities. Ruth doted on her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who called her “GG” (for “Grandma Goldberg”) and had the special experience of knowing her for many years during visits to Ohio, Florida and California and when she came to London, New York, Palo Alto, Corvallis, Portland, and Westport to see them.
Ruth is survived by her daughters Marcy Schwartz, Dale Goldberg and Marsha Goldberg and sons-in-law Mark Dlott and Chuck Turner; her son Michael Stern; her grandsons Nathaniel Stern, Max Dlott, Noah Schwartz and Gabriel Schwartz and Noah’s and Gabriel’s respective spouses Lydie Maugard and Megan Trice; her granddaughter Casey Dlott and Casey’s husband Joel Schulman; and her great-grandchildren Juliette Schwartz, Susannah and Harvey Schwartz, and Sabine and Kai Schulman.
Funeral Services will be Friday, December 29, 2023 at 11 am at the Marion Avenue Snyder Funeral Home. Cantor Nancy Shimer will officiate. Burial will follow in Emanuel Jacob Cemetery.