Susanne Steinem Patch (February 19, 1925 – November 2, 2007) was an American gem expert and staff lawyer at the Federal Trade Commission.
Early life Susanne Steinem was born in Toledo, Ohio, the daughter of Leo Steinem and Ruth Nuneviller Steinem. Her paternal grandmother, Pauline Perlmutter Steinem, was a suffragist and activist for vocational education in Toledo.Patricia Sullivan, "Susanne Steinem Patch, 82; Gem Expert" Washington Post (November 7, 2007). After their parents' divorce and their mother's health issues, Susanne was an important support for her younger sister, Gloria Steinem.Letty Cottin Pogrebin, "Gloria Steinem" Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. (Jewish Women's Archive, March 2009).Biographical Note, Gloria Steinem Papers, 1940–2000, Sophia Smith Collection.
Susanne Steinem attended Smith College, earning an undergraduate degree in 1946. At age 50, after raising six children, she returned to school, earning her law degree from Antioch School of Law in 1978.
Career While in college, Susanne Steinem worked at a jewelry store, and became fascinated by gems. She learned the industry working as buyer in New York and Washington D.C. She taught gemology classes"Gemology School Adds Correspondence Course" Chilton's Jewelers' Circular (September 1950): 247. and hosted a local television show on the subject. During the years 1970-1975, she served as a docent at the Smithsonian Institution's Hall of Gems and Minerals and Hall of Physical Geology. Patch wrote a book, Blue Mystery: The Story of the Hope Diamond (1976),Susanne Steinem Patch, Blue Mystery: The Story of the Hope Diamond (Smithsonian Institution Press 1976). Mindy Yochelson, "Book Discounts Diamond Curse" Lincoln Journal Star (January 10, 1976): 6. via Newspapers.com and was a technical consultant on the subject for various documentaries and exhibits.Barbara Gamarekian, "Gloria's Big Sister Her Own Kind of Activist" Tampa Tribune (March 12, 1978): 95. via Newspapers.com
After becoming a lawyer, Patch was a staff attorney at the Federal Trade Commission and was assigned to the Bureau of Consumer Protection from 1980 to 1994, where she oversaw regulations on jewelry, watches, and metallic watchbands. She was a member of the Maryland State Bar Association, the American Society of Jewelry Historians, the Mineralogical Society in Washington, and many other organizations.
Personal life Susanne Steinem married a patent attorney, Robert J. Patch, in 1954."Susanne Steinem, Robert Patch Wed" New York Times (August 8, 1954): 80. The Patches had six children together, and cared for her mother Ruth Steinem, in their Chevy Chase, Maryland home.Carolyn G. Heilbrun, Education of a Woman: The Life of Gloria Steinem (Random House Publishing 2011). She was co-founder of her neighborhood food co-op in 1974, and remained active there through the 1980s. She was also engaged in school issues in Montgomery County, Maryland. Susanne Steinem Patch died in 2007, aged 82 years, in Bethesda, Maryland, after a stroke."Susanne Steinem Patch" Leland Street News (November 4, 2007).
References
External links
A 1984 photograph of Susanne Steinem Patch and Gloria Steinem, at the latter's 50th birthday party, in the collection of Getty Images.