Eleanor W. HERTZ

HIGHLAND, N.Y. - Eleanor W. Hertz, a teacher, research scientist and native-American historian, died peacefully Monday, at the Wingate at Ulster nursing home in Highland. She was 92.
Eleanor was born in Boston on Dec. 24, 1917, the daughter of Swedish immigrants, Gustav and Gerda West. The family soon moved to Worcester, Mass., where Eleanor's father established his medical practice.
She graduated from North High School in Worcester in 1935 and from Radcliffe College in Cambridge, Mass., in 1939, where she majored in biology. Her senior research project at Radcliffe led to the discovery of a pituitary hormone, which has recently been used to treat prostate cancer.
On June 15, 1941, Eleanor married John Atlee Hertz, whom she met while he was attending graduate school at Harvard. They moved to Bethlehem, Pa., where John was a professor of English at Lehigh University. In the 1950's, Eleanor accepted a research position in the Lehigh biology department, where she collaborated with other scientists in the study of thermal pollution of rivers and streams. She earned a master's degree in biology from Lehigh in 1958. The family moved to Clarks Green, Pa., in 1967, and Eleanor accepted a position as a biology professor at Marywood College in Dunmore, Pa.
Following her retirement in 1981, Eleanor and John moved to Williamsburg, Va., where she and John were active in the Chamber Music Society, a birding club and a Lehigh alumni group. Several years later, she took her two oldest grandsons to an event hosted by the Chickahominy Tribe and met Chief Oliver Adkins. She and Chief Adkins soon developed a friendship that led to Eleanor's offer to write a book on the history of the tribe. The book was published in 1991, and Eleanor subsequently wrote a second book, the oral history of three generations of Chickahominy women.
Eleanor is survived by a brother, Alden A. West of Williamsburg; two sons, John A. Hertz of Vedbaek, Denmark, and Larry Hertz of Highland; four grandchildren, Joshua Hertz of Astoria, Daniel Hertz of Silver Spring, Md., Kyle Fisher-Hertz of Highland, and Jamie Fisher-Hertz, of Amherst, Mass; one great-grandson, Henry Eliot Hertz of Astoria; and several nieces, nephews and cousins.
Her husband, John, died in 2004. A daughter, Pamela Hertz, died in 1970.
A private, graveside service was held Friday, at Nisky Hill Cemetery in Bethlehem, Pa.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that contributions be made to the Chickahominy Tribe Scholarship Fund, 8200 Lott Cary Road, Providence Forge, VA 23140; or to the National Museum of the American Indian, Attention David Saunders, P.O. Box 23473, Washington, D.C. 20026-3473.
Arrangements under the direction of Timothy P. Doyle Funeral Home, Inc., 371 Hooker Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12603. If you wish to send on-line condolence, please visit our website at www.doylefuneralhome.com View and post condolences on our online guestbook at dailypress.com/guestbooks.