Judy Feiffer (1929–2016)

Judith Feiffer, née Sheftel, was born in New York City. Her parents were Dr. Abraham Sheftel, a research physician, and his wife Claire, a classical musician. In 1932, the family moved to Italy to follow her father's dream of composing opera. The approach of World War II made them return to the USA, and they settled in Los Angeles, California. Her mother's work with various Jewish and other émigré musicians in film studio orchestras was Judy's entrée to the community of Hollywood artists and writers. She briefly attended the University of California, Berkeley, and then went to live in England, Israel, and Paris. She studied photography with Gjon Mili, the photographer for Life magazine, and on her return to the USA, began her own career as a photographer. She joined literary and artistic circles in New York. Her work became in-demand for the covers of novels by Alberto Moravia, Norman Mailer, Meyer Levin, Aldous Huxley, and others. In 1963, she married Jules Feiffer, the satirical cartoonist and author, with whom she had a child. After a divorce from Mr. Feiffer in 1971, she worked as a Hollywood story editor and executive at Warner Brothers and Orion Pictures. She was famed for many years for her skill at spotting and fostering writing talent, and eventually became an editor at William Morrow Books. She later decided to focus on her own writing, and published four novels, A Hot Property (1973), Lovecrazy (1983), Flame (1986), and My Passionate Mother (2004).