Ruth Keedy Benjamin, a lifelong member of the American Trotskyist movement, died on June 29 in San Antonio, Texas at the age of 65. She succumbed to a rapidly advancing case of pancreatic cancer. Ruth’s husband, Eddie Benjamin, who was also a veteran Trotskyist died in 2008. She is survived by her two daughters, Sade and Larissa.

On Saturday, a memorial tribute to her life was held in Farmington Hills, Michigan. It was attended by about 100 friends, colleagues and comrades. Many spoke movingly about her passion for politics, her socialist ideals and her intense devotion to her family and friends.

Ruth was born in White Plains, New York, but grew up in San Antonio. She attended Alamo Heights High School and then went on to Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She came of age politically during the period of enormous social and political struggles of the late 1960s—a time of revolutionary upheaval from France to Eastern Europe to the Middle East. In the United States, the massive antiwar movement followed the civil rights struggles of the early and mid-1960s, as well as the ghetto rebellions. These years also saw a growing militancy in the working class and major strike struggles involving millions of workers.