Judith Bishop, poet/Renaissance woman, was born May 21, 1933, in Greenwich, Connecticut to Joan and Nathaniel Bishop of Bridgeport, Ct. She passed away on November 21, 2011, in Auberry, California. Ms. Bishop led a long and interesting life as a poet, musician, artist, photographer, herbal doctor, and political activist. A 1959 graduate of Columbia University, New York, Ms. Bishop received her BA in poetry and won the Academy of American Poets University Prize, judged by W. H. Auden and Marianne Moore. She was married to Ronald Roseman in 1957 (divorced) and to Dick Sewell in 1964 (divorced). In addition to starting Rustam publishers in New York, Judith worked at Harper and Row as a book designer for many years. In Maine she studied then taught violin playing in both the Portland and Bangor 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. A practicing Quaker, she also studied Native-American culture and ceremonial life, was involved in the Palo Alto Friends House, in political activities and landscaping. She was an editor of Coast Light, an anthology of Northern California poetry, and was published in many magazines and anthologies, including Kalliope, Taos Review, Nimrod, americas review, and The Sand Hill Review. She won the 1991 Five Fingers Review Chapbook Award for The Longest Light, and her book The Burning Place was published by Fithian Press in 1994. Judith was an extraordinary, kind, compassionate human being who will be greatly missed by everyone who knew her.
Judith was preceded in death by her parents and brother David. She leaves behind a daughter, Gabrielle Roseman; her long time best friend and companion Urion Heath of Auberry; and an extended Native American family of children, grandchildren, and friends throughout California.

[Biographical information taken from Fresno Bee obituary, Palo Alto Weekly obituary, The Sand Hill Review, and from New York Times articles]