Ruth Sklar

Ruth Sklar, daughter of the late Nathalie and Aaron Sklar z”l, died on July 29, 2025 in her home in Philadelphia, the same city in which she was born on March 9, 1946 along with her identical sister, Hinda. Their parents loved having twins, but supported their individual identities. She was an impeccable classy dresser, a dedicated teacher and educator, and a loyal cat lover and owner. With her ex-husband, she was the parent of daughters Ana and Nora.

Ruth was a skilled high school teacher of English and French, challenging the rote way that languages were taught and advocating for newer books and more conversational and spoken French. She was, in her own way, very sensitive, and envied those who felt comfortable taking risks that she did not or was not able to take. Nevertheless, she was a huge Francophile and loved visiting France and even reading French magazines.

When she was a young mother,living in rural Pennsylvania on top of a mountain, close to the university where her then-husband worked, she had her mother bring frozen bagels with her when she came to visit (not even frozen Lender’s bagels were available in rural PA for many of those years). Ruth grew a lot of her own food, canning, pickling, and making jams and jellies and banana pepper pickles, making the most of rural life. Her family never had store-bought bread or yogurt (with sugar! Horrors!) until she went back to work as a teacher when Ana was in first grade.

Ruth was bright and engaging and a good conversationalist. She was generally well read, well-informed, and able to talk about a wide range of topics. She was a big reader of fiction; every summer, she and her daughters would go to the library and get big stacks of books. She was very independent throughout her life, preferring to figure things out on her own, and almost always did. Later in life, the flip side of that independence meant that she struggled with needing more help as we all do, if we are privileged enough to get older.

She was proud of the accomplishments of her daughters and their partners, and loved her grandchildren. She was a devoted daughter and cared dutifully and lovingly for her parents as they aged. She was also a devoted niece to her dear Aunt Sylvia, z”l.

She was hardworking and conscientious, almost painfully organized and detail-oriented. Right up until her death, her apartment was beautiful and in immaculate condition. Her family speculated with amusement that she would be happy to know that she died with clean baseboards.

Ruth is survived by her daughters Ana Gordon Volpi (Matt Volpi) of Newton, MA; Nora Shaftel of Lakewood, OH her sister Hinda Sklar (Clive Phillpot) of London, England; and grandchildren, Naomi, Leo, Rory, and Lucy.