Extended Interview with Ruth Friendly

The Full Interview Conducted by Film Director Lesley Topping for our Film, From the First Schoolhouse: A Scarsdale Story

Ruth Friendly, a former Scarsdale elementary school teacher and award-winning television producer, discusses her teaching career and her work with her late husband, Fred Friendly, a pioneer of broadcast journalism.

About Ruth Friendly

Ruth was raised in Manhattan by her parents Herman and Henrietta Weiss. Herman, a Bloomingdale's executive, had been with the company since 1914.

A graduate of Smith College (1945) and Teachers College, Columbia University (1957), her first career was as a faculty member in the Scarsdale School District, where she taught and worked on curriculum development for over fifteen years.  With husband Sandor Mark, she raised three children in the Quaker Ridge neighborhood. Son Jonathan Mark went on to serve as the Mayor of Scarsdale from 2015 to 2017.

Ruth’s students after a performance of their original play based on the 1735 trial of John Peter Zenger. A true story based in colonial New York, the landmark legal case that established the foundations of freedom of the press in America. Credit: Ruth Friendly, 1982.

Widowed at an early age, she subsequently met and married Fred Friendly, and they merged their two families – six kids under one roof.  

Ruth with husband Fred Friendly, a television producer and former president of CBS News. Photo Credit: Ruth Friendly

Ruth began her second career in 1982, working at Media and Society Seminars, founded by her husband Fred. Starting as a researcher, she moved on to become an editor, producer, and executive producer on more than 100 hours of programming airing nationally on PBS, including The Constitution: That Delicate Balance, Managing Our Miracles: Health Care in America, Ethics in America, and That Delicate Balance II: Our Bill of Rights.

After her husband’s death in 1998, Ruth took over as Director of Media and Society Seminars, and became Vice President and Senior Editorial Director of Fred Friendly Seminars (FFS) a successor organization that took over the production responsibilities.  The FFS programs produced for PBS include Minds on the Edge, Ethics in America 2, Our Genes/Our Choices, Who Cares: Chronic Illness in America, Epidemic, and Beyond Black and White: Affirmative Action in America.  Over the years, Ruth has also produced more than 300 non-televised seminars for medical, legal, educational, governmental, and civic groups across the country. 

Ruth at her desk at the Columbia University School of Journalism in 2009, where at 85 she continued to serve as the Vice President and Editorial Director of Fred Friendly Seminars: award-winning television programs. Photo Credit: Ruth Friendly

In the 2000s, Ruth served for eight years as a Commissioner on the New York State Commission of Nomination, Court of Appeals. She also served as a panel member for the Disciplinary Committee of the Appellate Division, New York Supreme Court.  She is an active board member of Riverdale Senior Services and Riverdale Neighborhood House.

Ruth delights in sharing her free time with her six children and their families, including ten amazing grandchildren, and five prized great-grandchildren.

Extended Interview with Ruth Friendly

Exclusive Content From From the First Schoolhouse: A Scarsdale Story

Women Rising: Extended Interview with Former Editor of Scarsdale Inquirer

The Full Interview Conducted by Film Director Lesley Topping for Our Film, Women Rising: The Scarsdale Suffragists

In 2024, for our film Women Rising: The Scarsdale Suffragists, we had the privilege of interviewing Linda Leavitt, an accomplished journalist who served as Associate Editor and later Editor-in-Chief of the Scarsdale Inquirer from 1984 to 2015. Beyond contributing to our project, we also sought to document Linda’s remarkable career and legacy.

The following two videos highlight Linda’s reflections on her journey in journalism, her most memorable stories, the evolving roles of women in Scarsdale, and the history of the Scarsdale Inquirer.

The Scarsdale Inquirer was Scarsdale’s first local newspaper. It originated in the late 1800s, as a neighborhood newsletter in Scarsdale’s Arthur Manor and later evolved into a newspaper under the ownership of the Bronxville Review. When the paper faced financial difficulties in 1919, a group of Scarsdale suffragists, who had recently formed the Scarsdale Woman’s Club, bought the paper. Over the years, the Scarsdale Inquirer was transformed into award-winning and beloved local newspaper. Although the Woman’s Club sold the paper in 1959, it continued to be staffed mostly by women. After Linda Leavitt’s retirement in 2015, Valerie Abrahams succeeded her as Editor-in-Chief, and led a team of talented dedicated journalists until the paper ceased publication in 2024. 

About Linda Leavitt

Linda Leavitt joined The Scarsdale Inquirer in 1984 as associate editor covering Scarsdale schools, arts and entertainment and religion. When editor David Kirkwood retired in 1991, she was appointed editor, serving until her retirement in July 2015.

During her tenure as editor the paper won many awards from the New York Press Association, including overall best newspaper, general excellence and awards for editorials, news and feature stories. Along with her predecessor Kirkwood, Leavitt received the New York State Bar Association Media Award in 1985 for the paper’s coverage of the Scarsdale crèche case.

The Inquirer was honored by the Scarsdale community several times over the years: in 1997 by the Scarsdale Historical Society and in 2001 with the Town and Village Civic Club Public Service Award. In 2006, Leavitt was named a distinguished alumna of Scarsdale High School and also received the Scarsdale Teen Center Visions of Community Award. In October 2015 the Scarsdale Forum presented her with its public service award.

Since retiring, she has joined the boards of the Scarsdale Adult School and the Scarsdale Woman’s Club. She takes painting classes with the adult school and writes a monthly column and occasional theater reviews for the Inquirer.

Leavitt moved to River Road with her family in 1954. She attended Greenacres Elementary School and was in the first class to go all the way through the Scarsdale Junior High School. She attended Connecticut College and received her B.A. from Sarah Lawrence College.

She is a lifelong member of Hitchcock Presbyterian Church. She lives in Stamford, Connecticut with her husband Liam Murphy. She has two daughters and four grandchildren.

For a further exploration of the Scarsdale Inquirer’s history, see The Story of Our Century: 1901–2001: Celebrating 100 years of Scarsdale News. This book is available at the Scarsdale Public Library. 

The Scarsdale Inquirer has been digitized from 1901 - 1977, all available online. This was part of a joint project with the Scardale Public Library.

Part 1: Interview with Linda Leavitt

Exclusive Content From Women Rising: The Scarsdale Suffragists

Part 2: Interview with Linda Leavitt

Exclusive Content From Women Rising: The Scarsdale Suffragists