Marilyn Lou Wertheimer

December 1st, 1928 — April 28th, 2023

Marilyn Lou Wertheimer, of Boulder, Colorado, died at home on April 28, 2023, at the age of 94.

She was born on December 1, 1928, in Pueblo, CO, the daughter of Louis Robert Schuman and Alice Peck Schuman. She married Michael Wertheimer in 1970.

She left Pueblo at an early age and spent her childhood in La Jolla, CA, where she graduated from The Bishop's School in 1946. She received a B.A. in Russian language from Stanford University in 1950 and an M.A. in Public Law and Government and a certificate of the Russian Institute from Columbia University in 1953, and did further graduate work in political science at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1967 she received an M.A. in Library Science from the University of California at Los Angeles.

After attending Columbia University, she resided in New York City for several years, working for Radio Free Europe, the Council on Foreign Relations, World Publishing Company, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. She was a librarian at the University of California at San Diego before coming to Boulder in 1968, where she was a political science bibliographer and reference librarian in Norlin Library at the University of Colorado for 25 years. She also taught a seminar on Soviet Civilization for many years for the General Honors Program at CU. Together with her husband and a colleague, she produced a well-received reference book, History of Psychology: A Guide to Information Sources, published by Gale Research Company in 1979, and she contributed chapters on sociology and psychology for a major reference book, Sources of Information in the Social Sciences: A Guide to the Literature, published by the American Library Association in 1986. She retired in 1993.

She was a member of delegations of librarians sponsored by U.S. Exchanges which visited libraries in the People's Republic of China in 1985 and the Soviet Union in 1988. She was a member of the American Library Association, the Colorado Library Association, and the Women's Caucus for Political Science. She was also a member of the First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Boulder.

She and her husband enjoyed travelling; together they visited many different parts of the world. She was an amateur photographer and participated in numerous sports, including tennis, hiking, and skiing.

She was very fond of her stepchildren, step-grandchildren, and their children, who reside in Colorado, California, Maine, Oregon, Virginia, and England. Survivors include members of her husband's family. 

Contributions in her honor should be sent to The Wilderness Society.

 

 

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Condolences

Marilyn and Michael were dear friends whom we miss very much. I worked with Marilyn in Norlin Library, and for many years we had adjacent desks in the reference department where she was a cherished colleague as well as friend. Glenn and I enjoyed many meals and slide shows at the lovely Wertheimer home on 6th Street and later at Meridian. Marilyn documented their many travels to far flung places with beautiful photos, and in every show, she included children and at least one dog. Both Marilyn and Michael were indignant at social injustice, but both were very kind and gentle in their private lives. They had a deep, deep love for each other. We were lucky to have known them. Carol and Glenn Cushman
Mon, 2023-05-08 18:07
My parents, Mary and Fred Trembour, were longtime friends of Marilyn and Michael, and I have fond memories of breakfasts and dinners with the Wertheimers over many years. They were the reason my mother chose to rent an apartment at the Meridian, where Marilyn and Michael lived, when her Martin Acres house flooded in 2013. Their interests were well-matched: my mother was also a librarian, and my father admired Michael's scholarship. They certainly shared a love of travel, and I think traveled occasionally together. My mother died in 2016; my father preceded her in 1999. Our town will miss them.
Tue, 2023-05-09 13:15
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