Zelia Peet Ruebhausen

Zelia Peet Ruebhausen (1914 – January 24, 1990) was an American civic leader and policy advisor.

Early life

Zelia Krumbhaar Peet was born in Rye, New York, the daughter of William Creighton Peet and Meta Brevoort Potts Peet. She was named for her paternal grandmother, Emma Zelia Krumbhaar Peet. She attended Miss Hall's School in Pittsfield, Massachusetts[1] before attending Vassar College, where she graduated in the class of 1937.[2]

Career

Ruebhausen held a wide array of volunteer positions on advisory committees and councils and executive boards. When asked why she did not seek paid employment instead, she explained, "Because as a volunteer there's no limit to what I can do."[3] During World War II she was the private secretary to an Assistant Secretary of the Navy. She did research for the Spelman Fund, and for the National Association of Manufacturers.[4]

She was the only woman member of the World Trade Advisory Committee of the United States Department of Commerce in 1957. She also served on the Advisory Committee on Africa of the United States Department of State. She was a consultant to the Council on Foreign Relations from 1967 to 1970. She served on the New York City Charter Revision Commission (1972-1977).[5] She led the Women's Africa Committee and served on the board of trustees of the African-American Institute.[6][7] She was also active with the International House of New York.[8] At the New School for Social Research she served on the Board of Overseers in the Center for New York City Affairs.[2]

Ruebhausen was an official observer at the United Nations, appointed in 1946 by the League of Women Voters.[9] "If the United States is to exert leadership, it cannot do it by dollars alone," she wrote in a report for the League. "We must also live up to our beliefs in the dignity of man and the rights of all citizens to equal opportunities."[3] She represented the League at least four times to testify before Congress. She was an officer of the Foundation for Citizens Education, and of Women United for the United Nations.[4]

Personal life

In 1942,[10] Zelia K. Peet married lawyer Oscar M. Ruebhausen,[11] who was president of the New York City Bar Association and longtime advisor to Nelson Rockefeller.[12] She died in 1990, aged 75 years, in Rancho Santa Fe, California, from ovarian cancer.[2] There is a Zelia P. Ruebhausen Student Fund at Yale University, named in her memory.[8]

References
  1. "News of Social Interest" Rye Chronicle (June 9, 1933): 11.
  2. "Zelia Ruebhausen, 75, Long a Civic Leader". The New York Times. January 25, 1990. Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
  3. Helen Laville, Cold War Women: The International Activities of American Women's Organizations (Manchester University Press 2002): 16-17, 82. ISBN 9780719058561
  4. "Mrs. Oscar M. Ruebhausen, UN Observer, To Speak Here" Kingsport Times-News (December 7, 1952): 25. via Newspapers.comopen access
  5. "Charter Panel Members" New York Times (August 6, 1975): 35.
  6. Photograph of Zelia Ruebhausen and Margaret Kenyatta (1964), from the Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College.
  7. The African-American Institute, Annual Report (1986): 21.
  8. "Law School Receives Major Gift to Endow Chair, Fellowships, and Student Fund" Yale News (September 21, 2005).
  9. "League Studies Recession" Pittsburgh Press (March 27, 1958): 24. via Newspapers.comopen access
  10. "Miss Zelia K. Peet Westchester Bride" New York Times (November 1, 1942): 51.
  11. "Zelia Peet is Engaged to an Attorney Here" New York Times (October 12, 1942): 20.
  12. Richard Norton Smith, On His Own Terms: A Life of Nelson Rockefeller (Random House Bertelsmann 2014): 269. ISBN 9780375505805
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