ROSEMARIE REDLICH SCHERMAN

Rosemarie Redlich Scherman, 78, died August 11, at her home in Stony Point, NY. A journalist and freelance writer who became a historian in late middle age. Ms. Scherman died of pancreatic cancer, according to her son John. Born in Vienna, Austria in 1922, Ms. Scherman was the daughter of Josef Redlich, a prominent Austrian statesman, legal scholar, and historian. After the Nazi occupation of Austria in 1933 and Dr. Redlich's death in 1936, his widow and two daughters left Vienna for the United States. Ms. Scherman lived with American friends in Concord, MA and attended Concord Academy. Graduating from Smith College in 1943, Ms. Scherman worked as a researcher and reporter for Life magazine, covering World War II from the magazine's Paris bureau. In 1944 she met the Life photographer, and later editor, David E. Scherman, whom she married in 1949. In 1952, after two years of cross-country travel and research, the Schermans published "Literary America," a study of American writers from Captain John Smith to Eudora Welty. The well-received book spawned a juvenile edition, "America, the Land and its Writers," which was published in 1956. The Schermans' two sons, John and Tony, were born in 1951 and 1953, and Ms. Scherman began a period of private study and research in American History. She eventually returned to school as a doctoral candidate at the City University of New York, receiving her Ph.D in history in 1999. Ms. Scherman survived her husband, who died in 1997. She is survived by her sister, Eleanora Ledermann of Los Angeles, CA, her sons, and a granddaughter. A memorial service will be held in the near future. HIGGINS FUNERAL HOME, INC 321 South Main Street, New City (845)634-6110