“It’s hard to believe now, but during their marriage Ruth felt that it was only Jack who was the bright light, the gifted one in the relationship.”

“When we left her house that afternoon, my sister and I decided that Ruth was one of the coolest adults we’d met.”

“She once told me, ‘I don't listen to your show, so I avoid the possibility of getting mad.’" 

“A few people in your life make a big impact. Ruth was one of those people.”

“Ruth was a giant, a fierce provocateur, and a great friend and mentor for many of us.  Especially those of us who were women working and leading in public radio from the 60s and 70s on.”

“She never said another word to Tom or me, much to our relief, and that interview remains highly sought after in reggae collectors’ circles.”

“Ruth was unstoppable and a constant force for new ideas and thought.”

“I loved and admired her enormously, and found her to be a great teacher and inspirer.”

“One could not have had a more sophisticated companion.”

“We had a bit of a code. If the door between her laundry room and the house was open, I knew she wanted to chat.”

“She’s standing in the center of a cage in a circus ring, holding a chair in one hand and a whip in the other, surrounded by lions, all of whom are bowing to her, not so much in fear as out of respect.”

“Ruth always tried to give me an understanding of how far she had come, from an apartment in the Bronx all the way to a job and a house by the sea on the other side of the country.”

“Ruth gave no quarter and took no quarter in the 40 years we knew each other.”

“When I first met Ruth, she was obviously passionately interested in politics and culture – music, art, literature, film, theater – but she seemed relatively uninterested in design, perhaps because it was functional and mass-produced, not a fine art form. But then she redecorated the basement offices and suddenly became fixated on the furniture. She would call me into her office to pore over pamphlets of Eames chairs.”

“Ruth taught me the power of letting go.”

“She let people lead with their own strengths and gave them the freedom to do so.”

Ruth valued loyalty above everything else.

“Ruth was a force of nature and I took great joy in watching how much respect - and even fear - she would elicit from people wherever she went.”