The Maxwell School is proud to share its 100th birthday with alumna Rosalind “Roz” Rudolph ’44 B.A. (PSc) of Los Angeles, California.
Born on July 30, 1924, she was just three months old when the school was founded by entrepreneur George H. Maxwell. Some 18 years later, Rudolph—whose maiden name is Millinger—left her home in New York to attend the school, which fostered her lifelong interest in world affairs, politics and government.
A few years after earning a bachelor’s degree, she returned to Syracuse for a homecoming weekend, where she met her future husband, Seymour Rudolph. They married six months later and remained in Syracuse for 60 years. The couple had three children: Andrea, Alan and Ellen. Seymour, known to loved ones as “Si,” died in 1987.
Ellen Rudolph says her mom was always “a curious and adventurous person at heart,” who was eager to explore the world with her family. One of their first excursions, in the mid-1950s, was a trip to South Africa which included a safari. In 1972, the Rudolphs celebrated their 25th anniversary with a trip around the world, first picking up Ellen from a year abroad as a high school exchange student in Japan. They made stops in China, Thailand, India, Nepal, Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, Italy and Greece. In the 1980s, they visited Russia, China and South America. Over the years they also visited Scandinavia and New Zealand and hosted several foreign exchange students.
Rudolph was passionate about keeping active and loved outdoor sports, especially golf and tennis. She won at least one club championship, at Lafayette Country Club, Ellen says, and continued to play regularly well into her 90s—often with friends who were 20 years her junior.
A tireless volunteer and a member of several boards, she helped run the Syracuse Community Nursery School and supported the Everson Museum as a gift shop promoter and buyer. She was also an avid patron of the arts in Syracuse and in Rochester, where she resided for seven years prior to moving to join Ellen and her family in California in 2018.
Rudolph is exceedingly well looked after in an assisted living residence, says Ellen. She is known for her humor and warm nature and is proud to be a grandmother to three and a great-grandmother to two.
By Jessica Youngman
