Judith Ginsberg Wittner, beloved mother, grandmother, sociology professor, feminist scholar, and indomitable activist died peacefully on February 16, 2022.

Born to Sol Ginsberg (a printer) and Anna Brickman Ginsberg (a nurse) on October 20, 1939, in Massachusetts, Judy whizzed through school and entered Barnard College at age 16. After she met and later married Loren Wittner in New York, Judy finished her undergraduate education at Brandeis in 1960. She gave birth to her two daughters, Jenny and Lizzie, in 1962 and 1965. As a young mother in Chicago in the 60s, Judy was drawn to the burgeoning protest movements of that era: the Civil Rights Movement, the Women’s Movement, the Anti-War Movement, and the Student Movement. She was inspired to act on her beliefs, live out her compassion through action, and stand up to injustice. She helped establish the Peace and Freedom Party in Evanston on whose platform she ran for School Board, and she worked with NAM, the New American Movement protesting the war in Vietnam. She was also deeply involved in the Chicago women’s movement through the Chicago Women’s Liberation Union.

Judy also returned to her education and enrolled in Roosevelt University, where she received a Master's degree in Political Science in 1971 and taught some of the first women's studies courses to be offered in Chicago. Newly divorced that same year, Judy raised her daughters and continued her political activism while pursuing a doctorate in Sociology at Northwestern University. After earning her Ph.D in 1977, she took a position in the Sociology Department at Loyola University, where she dedicated the next 40 years to advancing knowledge in the field and empowering students to go out and make change in the world.

Over the course of those four decades at Loyola, Judy helped to establish the Women's Studies Program at 1979 (the first such program at a Jesuit University) and served as its director for five years. She taught courses in qualitative methods, the sociology of families, gender studies, and the politics of food. She was also a pioneer in ethnography and taught field methods and gender studies workshops around the world, including Nigeria, El Salvador, and Lithuania. Her research was always driven by a commitment to understanding institutions “from the bottom up,” in her words. Her commitment to the voices of marginalized people resonates through thousands of pages of her handwritten notes in the scrupulously transcribed words of so many interviewees: dispossessed women workers, foster kids, victims of domestic violence.

Judy’s accomplishments were many: she authored and coauthored too many publications to mention here, and her work was later honored by the creation of an academic award given in her name. But she always prioritized people over publishing and self-promotion. Judy consistently pointed her work toward making the world better. She used her scholarship to collaborate with community groups and non-profit organizations in their common mission to support social justice and equity in the Chicago area. Dozens of students and colleagues have spoken of her life-changing mentorship, her thorough, careful, and incisive feedback, and the hours and hours of attention she gave to those seeking her insights.

It’s hard to appreciate the obstacles Judy faced as she did this work and the courage it took to do so. But she was unyielding. In the words of those who knew her best, she was not only smart and passionately committed to justice, but she was also irascible, tough, direct, honest, stubborn, and not infrequently, belligerent.

Judy with the fabulous gap-toothed smile will also be remembered for her warmth and the flamboyant generosity she showed to friends, family, and absolute strangers. Anyone who needed anything-- she was there. Her office door and her front door were always open, and all were invited in. Many were welcomed to her backyard bursting with flowers, berries, and fragrant herbs. There, she would throw impromptu feasts, with bottles of wines passed, chairs borrowed from across the fence, rickety plastic tables extending to the ever-expanding company of comrades and an extravagant, nutritious meal (sometimes burnt) appearing for all to enjoy. Come in! Sit down! Join us! Eat! These were among the most common phrases out of Judy’s mouth.

Liz and Jenny grew up in a house filled with people, and there was always a friend or a friend of a friend, or a daughter of a friend, staying at 822 South Blvd. Her arms and doors always open—and her purse, too. Though Judy was not wealthy, she could not give her money away fast enough. She operated as something of a bank to a revolving door of homeless individuals who knew that if they needed a little cash, Judy would be there for them. She believed that nobody should ever go without. What kind of a system allows that?

And when it came to the grandkids, she had regular visits every Sunday with Nathaniel and Alex. For the Charlottesville family (Mollie, Mario, and Lily) she always arrived with gifts, with books to read, and oh, the magic pancakes! Judy wanted her grandkids to experience the things she found joyful: the outdoors, the sun, gardening, hopscotch, art, reading, baking, dancing (she was terrible), songs (also terrible), but she did it all with gusto. And they, in turn gave her so much joy.

Judy gave her possessions, her energy, her time, and attention liberally and fully. She did not do this so much for herself. She wore her clothes until they were so threadbare that her daughters had to beg her not to wear the “Bleacher Bums” T-shirt ever again. When she once received a massage as a gift, she spent the whole time asking the masseuse about her life and worrying over her tired hands. She was always far more comfortable giving than receiving.

In the final years of her life, dementia cruelly attacked her beautiful mind, and she became a shadow of her former self. However, those unfamiliar with the Judy of her prime were still charmed by her wry humor, loving heart, and singular spirit.

This force of nature, Judy Wittner, will be greatly missed by the many people whose lives she impacted.

She is survived by daughters Jennifer and Elizabeth Wittner, their partners Aaron Frankel and John Pepper, and grandchildren Nathaniel Pinheiro, Mollie Pepper, Alex Pinheiro, Mario Pepper, and Lily Pepper.

Special thanks for the warm, loving, and dignified care given by Dr. Patrick Logan, Maimot Amazulu, Marcos Oliveira, Benjamin Belbis, as well as the Neighborhood One staff at Belmont Village.

Judy’s life will be celebrated with a memorial service on Saturday, May 28, 2022 at 2 p.m. at the Unitarian Church of Evanston, 1330 Ridge Avenue, Evanston, IL 60201. We are planning to post a link to a livestream of the event to ensure as many friends and family will be able to safely take part in honoring her life. We will update our memorial website with that information as soon as it is available.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Chicago Community Bond Fund, Chicago Abortion Fund, or NeighborSpace, the non-profit urban land trust in Chicago supporting community gardens. 

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