Judith Bishop
May 21, 1933-Nov. 21, 2011
Palo Alto, California

Judith Bishop, poet/Renaissance woman, died Nov. 21, 2011, in Auberry, Calif. She was born May 21, 1933, in Greenwich, Conn., to Joan Stanford Bishop and Nathaniel Bishop (brother David). She graduated from Columbia University in 1959 with a bachelor's degree in poetry. She was the first winner of the American Academy of Poets grand prize.

Married to Ronald Roseman in 1957 (divorced) and to Dick Sewell in 1964 (divorced). She founded Rustam Publishers in New York (first to publish hardcover books of young New York poets) and worked at L Harper and Row as a book designer. In Maine she studied then taught violin playing in both the Portland and Banger symphonies and led several chamber orchestras.

In the mid 1970s she relocated to Palo Alto, Calif., and worked for 16 years at Xerox PARC. She studied and became a master herbalist, gardener and an accomplished photographer. She studied Native-American culture and ceremonial life, was involved in the Palo Alto Friends House, in political activities and landscaping. She published one book of poetry, had poems published in esteemed poetry journals and leaves a legacy of more than 20 volumes of poetry manuscripts.

She is survived by a daughter, Gabrielle Roseman; and partner, Urion Heath.