We were terribly saddened to learn of the recent passing of Ruth Pearl, mother of the late Daniel Pearl.
We were introduced to Ruth nearly 20 years ago just after the tragic death of her son at the hands of extremists in Pakistan. Ruth, along with her husband, Dr. Judea Pearl, were incredibly appreciative and supportive when we launched our Daniel Pearl Education Center – to continue their son’s commitment to understanding and community. Over the years, Ruth, along with Dr. Pearl, regularly sent us personal notes to read at our annual Daniel Pearl World Music Day concerts, our teen trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington and other events.
What we learned in the various obituaries about Ruth is that she, too, had experienced anti-Semitism and hatred first-hand. According to the USC Shoah Foundation, Ruth, born in Baghdad, Iraq on November 10, 1935, lived through an anti-Semitic pogrom in Baghdad in 1941 in which 179 Baghdadi Jews were killed, and hundreds of others were injured or had their homes and businesses destroyed.
In 1948, Ruth, at 15, was among the mass exodus of Jews allowed to leave Iraq and were transported to Israel. Her family eventually settled in Tel Aviv, where she attended high school and later enlisted in the Navy in 1955 and then earned a degree in electrical engineering at The Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa. It was at Technion that she met Dr. Pearl. They married in 1960 and moved to New Jersey to pursue graduate degrees, and Daniel was born in Princeton in 1963.
Ruth is survived by her husband, Judea, her daughters Michelle and Tamara, her daughter-in-law Mariane, her sister Carmella, and grandchildren Leora, Tori, Ari, Evan, and Adam.
May Ruth’s memory be a blessing.