Ruth L. Easley

Ruth was born on December 26, 1935 in Glen Cove, Long Island, NY to Sally and Jack Zemel. When Ruth was a child the family moved to New Jersey, eventually settling in Washington, NJ. Ruth graduated from Washington High School and then went on to Douglass College, the Women’s Division of Rutgers University. Ruth majored in Spanish and minored in English and graduated with Honors in Spanish from Rutgers in1957. She worked as a bilingual administration assistant for Johnson and Johnson in New Brunswick, NJ, and later went on to work for Princeton University while she lived in West Windsor, NJ.

Ruth’s major love was the Spanish language, and she was fortunate to travel to both Mexico and Spain. Her other love was for cats, and she had several over the years. Her first cat, named Sandy, enjoyed sitting in a large pot on the stove (NOT ON) in her apartment. The last cat she had was named Nissan, called Nissy, which she found as an abandoned kitten at a Nissan Auto Dealership.

In 2005, after retiring, Ruth moved from New Jersey to Rock Hill, SC where she would be closer to her sister Harriet. After acclimating to the culture shock, she volunteered at Piedmont Hospital, where she was frequently able to use her Spanish skills. Eventually, volunteering through the Rock Hill School District, she was active in Parent Smart, which provided language skills to parents of children in the school district who were non-English speaking. In 2016, she received an award for her work in this program.

Ruth is survived by her sister Harriet Teasdale (Howard Weisblat), Fort Mill, SC; her brother Ralph Zemel and sister-in-law Shelly, Parsippany, NJ; nieces Lori Vogel Lamb, Deborah Bennett (Jeff), Karen Martinez (Marcos) and several great nieces and nephews.

A graveside funeral service is scheduled for Wednesday, October 22, 2025 at the Hebrew Cemetary,1801 Statesville Ave. Charlotte, NC 28206.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Douglass Difference Annual Fund, c/o Rutgers University Foundation, PO Box 193, New Brunswick, N J 08903-0193.