Ruth Budinoff

Ruth Wittenberg was born in 1899 in Brooklyn, New York. She attended both Hunter College and Barnard College, but was forced to quit school due to her family's growing financial strains1. In order to support her family, Ruth took a job with the Bell telephone company as a demographer2. She married Phillip Wittenberg, a copyright lawyer and preservation activist, in 19193. Ruth came from a politically active family. As a suffragist, Ruth was jailed twice during her involvement in the women's rights movement4. She was also involved in the civil rights movement, and participated in the Selma, Alabama march with Martin Luther King, Jr5. Her political involvement in the women's rights movement and the civil rights movement carried over into historic preservation. A long time resident of Greenwich Village, she played an important role in the designation of Greenwich Village as a historic district6. Her involvement in Village culture started with the group "The Greenwich Village Study7." This group, which included Jane Jacobs and Stanely Tankel, focused mainly on the arts, music, and general issues of the Village8. Ruth also served on Community Board 2 for almost 40 years. She was appointed to the Community Council for Greenwich Village by Manhattan Borough President Robert F. Wagner in 19519. While serving on the board, she was a major proponent for eradicating the Women's Detention Center next door to the Jefferson Market Courthouse, arguing that "it was a wrong building, in a wrong place and at a wrong time"10. After the building was demolished, the area was turned into a community garden11. In thanks for her efforts to protect the Village and her contributions to the neighborhood, the area where Greenwich Avenue, Avenue of the Americas, and Christopher Street meet was named the Ruth Wittenberg Triangle12. Ruth died in October of 1990. She was 91 years old.