Ruth B. Lurie
Ruth Bella Lurie, a long-time Denver and Boulder resident, attorney, activist, and single mother, passed away Dec. 8, 2019. Rabbi Fred Greene and cantorial soloist Holli Berman officiated at the Dec. 11 graveside service. Greenwood & Myers Mortuary made the arrangements.
“Ruth was a fiercely loyal friend, mother and grandmother,” her family said. “A keen listener, Ruth wanted to know about the details of her friends’ lives and was not shy about expressing her opinions.
“She loved talking about everything, especially justice and speaking truth to power . . . and believed laughter was the best medicine.”
Mrs. Lurie was born July 10, 1940, in Brookline, Mass., to Jacob and Elsa Lurie.
She attended high school in Plainfield, NJ, and entered Antioch College in 1958 and also interned at the US Committee for UNICEF in New York City.
She met John Kailin Link at Antioch. After marrying in 1959, the couple moved to Pasadena, Calif.
Mrs. Lurie entered the University of California-Berkeley in 1963. She majored in Slavic languages and literature and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1965.
A passionate participant in the anti-Vietnam protests, she once said that the civil rights movement of the 1960s formed her life-long concern for justice.
The family moved to Boulder in 1966, but the marriage ended in divorce.
Now a single mother, Mrs. Lurie became a reporter for the Longmont Times-Call. While covering the local court, she met the late Boulder District Judge John Barnard who encouraged her to pursue law school.
Mrs. Lurie entered CU’s Law School in 1971 and graduated in 1974.
Her first job was clerking for the late Colorado Supreme Court Justice Edward Day. She was later elected to the Colorado Personnel Board.
During her succesful career, she shattered many glass ceilings.
Mrs. Lurie married Arlen Ambrose in 1988.
A founder of the Abrahamic Initiative, she was active at Temple Sinai, was on the B’nai Havurah board and helped Soviet Jewish refugees adapt to life in Denver.
She loved traveling, the theater, ceramics and Bob Dylan.
Ruth Lurie is survived by her husband, Arlen Ambrose; children Lisa (Lyle) Jones, Andrea (Michael) Banks and David Link; daughter-in-law Kimberly Link, step-children Dave (Roxane) Ambrose and Jody Ambrose; grandchildren Nathan (Alyssa) Jones, Caitlin (Andy) Spalding, Hannah Jones, Andrew and Emily Link, Eliana and Sarah Banks, and Madeline Ambrose; and great-grandchildren Elijah, Elsa and Joel Jones and Daniel and Evelyn Spalding.
Contributions may be made to the Nature Conservancy of Colorado or charity of choice.
Copyright © 2020 by the Intermountain Jewish News
