Ruth Prelowski Liebowitz

Ruth Prelowski Liebowitz
June 21,1941- August 20, 2025

A Remembrance


A brilliant light—one kept too long under a bushel— has gone out.

- the early years
Ruth was born in England to Muriel Ablett (later Prelowski) and lived through the Blitz. Her mother was a Londoner and a bookkeeper, who also studied to be a social worker. Her father was Welsh and a pharmacist. During World War II, Ruth's father studied to be a doctor, and during that period, Ruth and her mother stayed near Birmingham. Unfortunately, the separation eventually led to a divorce. The most difficult part for Ruth, though, was after the war when the fathers of her friends came home and hers did not.

Muriel and Ruth returned to London, from c. 1946-48, where, in order to raise money, Muriel rented a room to the Polish Stefan Prelowski, with whom she eventually fell in love.

Stefan had been in the Polish army, imprisoned by the Germans, was one of the first inmates in Auschwitz, and was liberated by the Americans after the war. He went on to study engineering in Turin, later moving to London, where he taught at a Polish college that was part of University College. He wanted to go to the US, though, and managed to get a sponsor from a Polish Jewish family living in Chicago.

Muriel and Ruth followed later, after first stopping in Montreal, where Ruth attended a French-language convent boarding school. Rather than providing the much-needed stability Ruth's mother had envisioned for her, the school was populated by children of elite, socially elevated types who were relatives of wealthy families or church higher-ups. Ruth did not fit in. After a few years, Muriel joined Stefan in Chicago, where they married. Ruth lived with them, and Stefan became a father-figure to Ruth.

- college years
Depite the modest start in her life, Ruth fulfilled her mother's dreams and was accepted into the prestigious University of Chicago—and this without references from her convent school, whose conservative administration opposed it. At that time, the University of Chicago was filled with many intellectual, left-wing, East Coast students—quite a change from the convent school! She flourished there, majoring in Renaissance and English history, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1961.

Her next intellectual accomplishments include getting accepted to Harvard's Ph.D. program in History, receiving a Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, and then successfully winning a Fulbright grant to Italy (1964-66). Ruth learned to speak Italian fluently, and had some conversazioni with me even during the last year of her life.

- marriage
Ruth returned to Harvard from Italy to write her 1972 dissertation: The Medici and the Sienese church, 1557-1577. At some point, though, she took time off to attend a party in Cambridge, where she met, through mutual friends who attended Columbia University, another historian, Jonathan Liebowitz. A few dates later, fireworks erupted and they were an item. They got married in June 1968, and remained together for 59 years!

Both Jon and Ruth loved music. They each played an instrument (Ruth played cello, Jon the violin), they attended concerts and the ballet, and took annual trips to Marlboro, Vermont to attend the music festival. They played duets together almost up to the end.

In those early days, though, both of them were teaching at UMass-Boston, while living in a third-floor walkup. But Jon was then offered a position at UMass-Lowell. So they—including their son Jeremy who was born in 1973—left Boston for Pepperell, Mass., while Ruth quit her position and followed Jon. It was one of many instances when she put her own priorities on hold for others. Although she managed to get adjunct and lecturer teaching positions at many schools:—Boston College, Simmons, Harvard Divinity School—she was never able to climb back on the tenure-track. Still, she nourished her intellectual prowess by teaching courses at Harvard's Radcliffe Institute, and traveling to Europe.

Ultimately, Ruth became a historian at Hanscom Air Force Base, where she remained for 25 years. From approximately 1984 through the late 1990s, she was the historian at the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory there. And later she became the historian for the Air Force Electronic Systems Center, also located at Hanscom, a position she held until her retirement. In conjunction with her work, she wrote numerous historical studies of the Air Force's space-related research and experimentation, as well as electronic systems development that occurred at Hanscom (and elsewhere). Some of her book-length studies include:

- Air Force Geophysics: Contributions to Defense and to the Nation, 1945-1995.
- Satellite and Space Shuttle Experiments Flown by the Geophysics Directorate and Other Units of Phillips Laboratory at Hanscom AFB, Massachusetts and by their Predecessor Organizations, 1958-1994.
- A History of the Space Radiation Effects (SPACERAD) Program for the Joint USAF/NASA CRRES Mission. Part 1. From the Origins through the Launch, 1981-1990.
- Chronology: From the Cambridge Field Station to the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory, 1945-1985.
- Chronology: From the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory to the Geophysics Directorate, Phillips Laboratory, 1985-1995.
- GL Atmospheric Propagation Codes for DoD Systems

Not all work and no play, Ruth enjoyed the finer things in life. She was a wonderful cook, and enjoyed well-made, beautiful clothes. I know because we went shopping and ate together quite often.

- the later years

Their son Jeremy and his wife have three sons, and working lives on the other side of the world. I know Ruth wished that they could have been able to see them more. But Ruth and Jon took many long, difficult trips to see their family—in Africa and Asia—even into their elder years.

Ruth and Jon had moved from Pepperell into a historic house in Littleton, where they were involved with the local historical commission. She passed away there this past August, with Jon taking constant care of her.

Ruth Prelowski Liebowitz
Birth date: June 21,1941
Death date: August 20, 2025
Survived by: husband Jonathan Liebowitz, son Jeremy Liebowitz, grandchildren Rafael Liebowitz-Thayer, Sebastian Liebowitz-Thayer, Gareth Liebowitz-Thayer, daughter-in-law Leah Thayer.