Hacker, Rose 1906-2008 (Rose Goldbloom Hacker)

OBITUARY NOTICE—

See index for CA sketch: Born March 3, 1906, in London, England; died February 4, 2008. Social worker, counselor, volunteer, activist, politician, columnist, and author. Hacker's commitment to helping others led her into almost every type of venue where people might need help. From an early age, hers was a familiar face at schools, hospitals, prisons, poor neighborhoods, workplaces of the underemployed, children's homes, and homes for the disabled, mentally ill, and elderly. She taught self-help classes for adults on health, happiness, and parenthood, and for young people on sex education and responsible relationships. Hacker's personal contributions were often made without fuss or fanfare, but her social and political activism for the causes she championed also brought her into public view. War had made her a pacifist; the plight of striking miners made her a socialist; the precarious situation of the disadvantaged eventually made her a politician. Much of Hacker's work as a marriage counselor and social worker was contributed on a volunteer basis, but her tireless dedication was no less valuable because of its informal status. She became a Labour party member of the Greater London Council when she was nearly seventy years old, and much of her political activity—as chair of the Thames Waterways Boards, for example, or president of the Progressive League—took place when many of her contemporaries were long retired. Hacker never retired; she was one hundred years old when she became a newspaper columnist for the Camden New Journal. Her previous writings include the books Telling the Teenagers: A Guide for Parents, Teachers, and Youth Leaders (1957; also published as The Opposite Sex), You and Your Daughter (1964), Health and Happiness (1967), and Abraham's Daughter: The Autobiography of Rose Hacker (1996).

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

BOOKS

Hacker, Rose, Abraham's Daughter: The Autobiography of Rose Hacker, Deptford Forum Publishing (London, England), 1996.

PERIODICALS

Times (London, England), March 3, 2008, p. 52.