Obituary
Laura C. Rothberg, nee Laura Gail Clayman, passed away peacefully at home on Thursday, April 17, 2024, aged 88, following a two year battle with non-smokers’ lung cancer.
The daughter of Russian immigrants Hyman and Dora Clayman, Laura was born on February 1, 1936, in Queens, New York. She was raised along with her late sister Rochelle “Shelley” Clayman Gillenson, in the apartment above their father’s small neighborhood grocery.
Laura left college in her junior year to wed the late Dr. Richard Rothberg, and support him through medical school, his military service, and his academic career in pediatrics. They settled in Chicago, IL, and had three children. After Richard’s passing in 1985, Laura returned to school and earned credentials as a lab technician, working in transplant research at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University until she retired and moved to Somerville, MA, in 2013 to live with her sons. She enjoyed classical and folk music, fine art, and splitting the occasional beer with good company.
Laura is predeceased by her eldest son Benjamin Z. Rothberg of Somerville, and daughter Miriam Rothberg Ruffalo of Boca Raton Florida, and is survived by her youngest son Dr. Jonathan D. Rothberg and his wife Kriss Barnhart of Somerville. Laura is also survived by her beloved granddaughter Rachel Mara Ruffalo of Miami, Florida, son-in-law Glen Ruffalo of Boca Raton, cousin Alice Lazar of Washington DC, and many extended family members on the East and West Coasts.
Services will be held privately by the family.
In lieu of flowers and in honor of her activism in civil rights and women’s health, memorial donations in her name can be made to Planned Parenthood. https://www.plannedparenthood.org/get-involved/other-ways-give