In the words of Ruth Edelman’s son, John, “everyone who knew Ruth Edelman loved her” — and certainly a huge crowd of that terrific lady’s legion of friends were on hand for her memorial service Thursday at Congregation Sinai on the Gold Coast.
The deputy chairman of the worldwide Edelman PR powerhouse and widow of the firm’s founder and public relations pioneer Dan Edelman — Ruth was eulogized beautifully by John, her three granddaughters, best pal Elizabeth Montgomery, Rabbis David Levinsky and Michael Sternfield, daughter Renee and son Richard Edelman, who runs the globe-circling company.
For those of us who will deeply miss Ruth’s morning phone calls, Richard’s on-target comment that his mom was “Facebook before there was a Facebook” reminded us of her drive, passion, strength, intelligence and wit.
Along with her family and her enormous contributions to the building of the Edelman empire, Ruth’s great legacy will include her unflinching honesty as she used her own mid-life battle with depression to raise awareness of mental health issues nationwide.
Among those on hand to pay tribue to Ruth Edelman Thursday were former U.S. ambassador to Great Britain Louis Susman, and his wife, Marjorie, Alice Wirtz, Bill Hargrave, Desiree Rogers, Abby O’Neil, Joan Harris, John Bryan, Edwin Eisendrath, Linda Johnson Rice, E.B. Smith, Bill Singer, Sugar Rautbord, Siobhan Engle, Keith and Rod Goldstein, Stanley Paul, Victor Skrebneski, Connie and David Coolidge and Susan Manilow.
