Judith Mara Gutman

Judith Mara Gutman (1928-2025), an historian, writer, curator, and educator who revealed to the world the work of the photographer, Lewis W. Hine and anonymous Indian photographers, died on October 7, 2025, in her apartment on Manhattan's Upper West Side, surrounded by people who loved and cared for her. She was 97 years old. The cause was congestive heart failure, according to VNS Hospice.

Judy maintained her indomitable spirit through the last days of her very long life—sharp, conversant, connected, and as opinionated and fiercely dedicated to her lifelong, ardent pursuit and advocacy for social justice, civil liberty and human rights as she ever was. She learned these habits of mind from her immigrant Jewish parents, Victor and Anna Markowitz, who raised her and her brother, Martin, in an apartment above a stationery store in St. Albans, Queens. Judy, staunch supporter and beneficiary of public education, was a graduate of PS 118 Queens (1941), Andrew Jackson High School (1945), Queens College (1949), and the Bank Street College of Education (1950).

In her almost 100 years of life, Judy wrote ten books and exhibition catalogs, winning renown and acclaim for her work on Lewis W. Hine, and Indian photographers, while she raised a family, hosted extraordinary dinner parties, gardened, routinely attended the theater, and traveled the world. A proud member of the Authors Guild, Judy supported the New York Public Library, PEN, Human Rights Watch, and the American Civil Liberties Union.

Judy is predeceased by, in addition to her parents and brother, her husband, Herbert G. Gutman (1928-1985), the historian with whom she shared a rich and rewarding life for 35 years, and her partners, the writer, Joseph Kastner (1908-1997) and the attorney, Adrian W. DeWind (1914-2009). Her survivors include Marta Gutman (Gene Sparling), Nell Gutman (Tom McWilliam, Jr., 1955-2019), and her grandchildren, Halley Gutman McWilliam (Tim Clare), Isaac Sparling (Heather Chmura), Nina Sparling, and Lily Grace Gutman McWilliam. Her daughters are indebted to Dazel Gamit and the team at VNS Hospice and the extraordinary women who cared for their mother as her health declined, giving unstinting love and affection.

Her funeral will be held on Sunday, October 12, 2025, at the Plaza Jewish Community Chapel, New York, N.Y., with internment following at Temple Israel Memorial Park, Blauvelt, N.Y. Donations may be made in her name to the New York Public Library, the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Author's Guild. Marta and Nell will greet friends and family at their homes.

Select bibliography

1966. The Colonial Venture.

1967. Lewis W Hine and the American Social Conscience.

1967. The Making of American Society (with E. Rozwenc).

1973. Is America Used Up?

1974. Lewis W. Hine: Two Perspectives (with Cornell Capa).

1975. Buying.

1982. Through Indian Eyes: 19th and Early 20th Century Photography from India.

2018. Lewis Hine: When Innovation Was King: The WPA National Research Project Photographs, 1936-37.