(JTA) — Gertrude Himmelfarb, a historian and author, as well as an influential conservative writer, has died at 97.
She focused much of her work on Victorian Britain, but also dedicated two books – “The Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot” and “The People of the Book” – to discussing attitudes toward Jews, Judaism and Zionism in English history, The Jewish Chronicle of London wrote in an obituary.
She was professor emerita of history at the City University of New York.
Himmelfarb was married to the late Irving Kristol, an American journalist and “Godfather of Modern Conservativism.” Kristol, who died in 2009, was an influential architect of the neoconservative movement in the United States in the 1960s and ’70s.
Her son Bill is a leading voice of American conservatives and a frequent commentator on several networks. Kristol, a chief of staff for former vice president Dan Quayle, is a frequent critic of President Donald Trump.
Himmelfarb, who died in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 30, was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Russian Jewish family.
The Encyclopaedia of Jewish Women describes her as “the most eloquent advocate” for “the reintroduction of traditional values … such as shame, responsibility, chastity, and self-reliance, into American political life and policy-making.”
Kristol wrote of his mother on Facebook: “She was blessed with a long and happy life, and maintained a lively interest in ideas, people, and politics until the end. We will miss her.” He said his mother died of congestive heart failure.
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