Ruth Leibowitz Scholarship Fund

About Ruth

Ruth Leibowitz was born on a kitchen table in a holler in West Virginia. Her aunt said she was a small as a pound of butter, and the doctor believed she might not survive. She did but just never got very tall. What she lacked in stature she made up for with boundless energy. One of her early bosses gave her the nickname Mighty Mouse.

At 16, Ruth left home to dance with the ballet in New York City. It was competitive and rigorous but Mighty Mouse was up to the challenge. She got roles playing children or old ladies because of her size. Her skills were impressive enough to give her the opportunities of working with legendary choreographers George Balanchine, and Robert Joffrey and to dance at Lincoln Center.

While teaching at a summer camp in Peekskill, New York, Ruth met a mischievous future chemist named Marshall Leibowitz. They married in 1957 and had two children, Jon, who would go on to become chairman of the Federal Trade Commission, and Susan, a longtime producer for NBC’s Dateline. 

When Marshall got transferred to Waterbury by Timex in 1977, the family moved to Ridgefield, where a new chapter began. Ruth knew she wanted to work with kids. She started at the Wooster School in the drama department putting on shows. Eventually she developed a life skills program for middle schoolers, teaching things like conflict resolution and how to manage stress. 

With her natural curiosity and empathy, “Ms. Ruth” was a magnet for young people looking to share their problems. Ruth got a grant from Paul Newman’s foundation and in 1985 started Inside Out, a theater company in Ridgefield and Danbury for young people to talk about issues they’ve had. As a member of Ridgefield’s Youth Commission, she helped open the Teen Center, known locally as The Barn, creating a safe space where kids could hang out. 

Along with noted playwright and Ridgefield resident Harvey Fierstein, Ruth helped organize the town’s first Pride Day in 1998. And in 2000, Ruth was part of a group that turned the former high school auditorium into the Ridgefield Playhouse, now one of the most respected nonprofit arts organizations in the country.

Later, as a Justice of the Peace, Ruth performed some of the state’s first gay marriages. Her other duties as a Justice included quelling riots, something she never had to perform, but for which she was equally qualified. 

Ruth noticed soon after moving to Ridgefield that there weren’t that many people of color living there. She knew about A Better Chance, a national program for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, and thought Ridgefield residents could benefit from a similar program.

She reached out to the Ridgefield Dept. of Education and the PTA to get them on board. And Ruth went door to door raising money to buy a house for the kids to live in. She’ll be the first to say it was a team effort, but Mighty Mouse was an inspiration. Ruth, now 94 and living in Los Angeles, is so proud that the ABC house in Ridgefield is still going strong and she’s deeply honored to have a scholarship in her name.