Baltimore native and Peabody alumna Ruth Buettner Renneburg (TC ’40, BM ’42, MM ’48 Piano; BS ’41, JHU) passed away on Monday, May 22, 2017, due to complications from a stroke at the Brightwood retirement community in Lutherville, Md.
Mrs. Renneburg studied piano and organ beginning at the age of 6 at the Peabody Preparatory School. She later earned a piano teaching certificate in 1940, a bachelor’s degree in music in 1942, and a master’s degree in music in 1948, all from the Peabody Conservatory. Mrs. Renneburg also earned a bachelor’s degree in 1941 from the Johns Hopkins University at a time when the university was still all-male. Women were not admitted at Hopkins until 1970.
As a member of the alumni councils of the Peabody Conservatory and the John Hopkins University, she was an early proponent of the merger of the two institutions. She was awarded the Peabody Conservatory’s Alumni Council’s Heritage Award for Outstanding Service in 1989 and a similar award from Hopkins in 1991. Mrs. Renneburg is a lifetime member of the Johns Hopkins Alumni Association.
The full obituary can be viewed in the Baltimore Sun.
