Judith Adler Hennessee

Judith Adler Hennessee, a freelance writer, biographer, and activist in the women’s rights movement of the 1970s, died on January 6, 2023, at her home on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She was 90. Born Judith Lila Adler, she grew up in the Bronx in New York City, attended Taft High School, and graduated from Barnard College in 1953. She was drawn to the world of journalism, and after college she worked as a secretary for Fred Friendly at the CBS News television show See It Now. After stints as an editor and newspaper stringer, her freelance writing career took off in 1967 with a breakthrough article in Washingtonian magazine that investigated and rated the top law firms in Washington, D.C. She went on to write articles for The New York Times, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Town and Country, Ms., Avenue, Connoisseur, Mirabella, Savvy, and Audience, among others, specializing in stories on both women’s rights and the news media. She was a contributing editor at (MORE) A Journalism Review and a media columnist for Manhattan, inc., and in 1986 she won the “Front Page Award,” honoring journalistic achievement among women.

She stepped briefly into the world of academia when she joined New York University in 1991 as an adjunct journalism professor and taught an undergraduate course on magazine writing. She was the author of three books, including Unnatural Death: Confessions of a Medical Examiner, with Dr. Michael Baden, and Betty Friedan, Her Life, a biography of the American feminist and writer Betty Friedan. While researching her fourth book, she contracted temporal arteritis and permanently lost her eyesight, an event that ended her writing career.

An ardent and lifelong feminist, she said joining the women’s rights movement of the 1970s was one of the highlights of her life, and wrote, “Recalling those wild, wonderful days, I’m so very proud of the history we made.” After marching in the 1970 Women’s March for Equality in New York City, she became vice president and FCC coordinator of the New York chapter of NOW (National Organization for Women), where she focused her efforts on an FCC license challenge to WABC-TV. It alleged sexism against women in WABC’s programs and employment practices and resulted in significant changes by the station. She was married for 11 years to Robert Emerson Hennessee, a newspaper reporter and publisher. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1968. Apart from 12 years in Washington, D.C., and Chicago, she lived her entire life in her beloved New York City, the one place she felt truly alive. Her apartment overflowed with books and magazines, and her days were filled with writing, reading, conversations with friends, and a family that adored her.

She had a keen intellect, laughed easily, and was caring, gentle, and elegant. A collection of papers from her writing career is held at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University. Judith is survived by her daughter, Nancy Hennessee, of Hastings on Hudson, New York, her sister, Evelyn Adler, of Philadelphia, her three grandsons, Thomas, Charles (Charlie), and James (Jem) Costello, and her niece, Vanessa Weiman, of New York City. Judith donated to a number of charities but felt most passionately about Planned Parenthood, and donations in her memory can be made there.