Gilbert was born Ruth Mayerson in Philadelphia on Dec. 10, 1909. Her father was a skilled woodworker who designed for homes and businesses. [10.12.1909]
After working her way through the Moore College of Art and Design she set out to be a teacher, but it was the height of the Depression and jobs were difficult to find. To make ends meet, she ran a federal Works Progress Administration-sponsored puppet theater and worked as a swimwear model and a nude model for artists before eventually landing a post on a junior high school faculty.
Her life quickly changed after she married Milton Gilbert, an up-and-coming Philadelphia economist. They moved to Washington, D.C., when he was named chief of the National Income Division of the Department of Commerce.
The Gilberts had three children, and after World War II the family relocated to Paris, where he became director of economics and statistics for the Organization for European Economic Cooperation.
While Milton Gilbert was crunching numbers and writing influential books on monetary policy, his wife was planning gatherings at their Paris home. It became a salon that attracted well-known celebrities of the day, including Fred Astaire.
"We had two Beckstein grand pianos which often ended up being played until 3 or 4 in the morning," she told the Monterey Peninsula Herald some years ago. "Isaac Stern and Itzhak Perlman were regulars. The best thing is you never knew who would show up."
After picking up the camera in 1972, she studied a series of Time-Life books on the technical aspects of the craft. As her body of work grew, she was accepted into prestigious workshops conducted by leading European and American photographers.
Her photos from "Sight Unseen" and other projects were shown around the world in private galleries or museums and sometimes in exhibitions under the auspices of the U.S. Information Agency.
After her husband’s death from a heart attack in 1979, she returned to the U.S. and resumed a friendship with Daniel Mazia, an eminent cell biologist who is credited with fundamental insights into mitosis, the process by which cells divide. They had met when they were in their 20s in Philadelphia.
From the early 1980s until Mazia’s death in 1996, they lived together in a Monterey beach house.
Their deep appreciation of cooking and culture made their home a stimulating gathering spot for an eclectic collection of artists and scientists. And she continued to be an engaging hostess, introducing dine de tetes -- dinner parties at which guests would wear self-made whimsical hats -- to many of her new friends, most of whom were half her age.
Into her 80s, she still swam in the chilly water of Monterey Bay and took brisk walks along the beach. She continued to live independently until a few months before her death.
In addition to her daughter Carla of Solana Beach, Gilbert is survived by her son, Arnold of Longbranch, Wash.; another daughter, Sheryl of Chevy Chase, Md.; and three grandchildren, Sabrina, Ned and Dylan. Services will be private.
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