Irmgard Hunt

Irmgard Hunt, whose book, On Hitler's Mountain, provides a first-person account of her childhood in Nazi Germany and serves as a cautionary tale about the rise of fascism, died on May 30 in Boulder, Colorado of Alzheimer's Disease. She was 88. Irmgard was born in 1934 in Berchtesgaden, Germany. When she was six, her father died while serving in the German army in France; the war and American Occupation provided the backdrop for the remainder of her childhood. At 25, she met Winslow Hunt, an American psychiatric resident, when they were both visiting the Vatican Museum in Rome. After a two-week courtship, she followed him to San Francisco and, ultimately, New York City, where he practiced and taught psychoanalysis. They raised two children on Manhattan's Upper West Side. While living in New York, Irmgard became an activist in the anti-war movement and then fought for women's rights, consumers' rights and the environment. Along with a handful of other women, she founded the consumer rights organization Consumer Action Now, and she eventually directed CAN's Council on Environmental Alternatives, which organized the first "Sun Day" in New York City to advocate for solar energy.. In 1980, MS. Magazine listed Irmgard as one of "Eighty women to watch in the 80's". Irmgard accomplished this without the benefit of a college education. However, in her 40s, she returned to school, earning a bachelor's degree from Columbia University and a Master's in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School. After finishing her education, she continued to work for causes she believed in. Her career included years at both the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the Nature Conservancy. Later in life, she moved to Washington DC and then Boulder. It was after she retired from nonprofit work that she wrote the book On Hitler's Mountain, which was described by historian Peter Gay as 'An important book... supremely honest, attractively written... particularly valuable as an intimate glimpse into the Hitler dictatorship'. It was critically acclaimed, translated into several languages, and led to many speaking engagements across the country. Irmgard was an avid skier. She loved a good hike, a good book, a good party (many of which she hosted), and a glass of wine at the end of the day. She handled the infirmities of old age with strength and grace and spoke of the causes she believed in, most notably the fight against fascism, until she could no longer talk. Several weeks before her death, Irmgard's 17-year-old granddaughter Julia Hunt spoke of her grandmother's activism at a pro-choice rally in Boulder. She credited that activism with inspiring her own. Irmgard was pre-deceased by her partner in life Michael Shor who died in 2008. She will be dearly missed by her two children Peter and Ingrid Hunt, daughter-in-law Mi-Kyoung Lee, and four grandchildren Leah, Jodi, Julia and Isabel. Donations in her honor may be made to Defenders of Wildlife or the Sierra Club.