Hedda Nussbaum was born on August 8, 1942 in New York, NY to Emma Rosenthal and William Nussbaum. She earned her B.A. at Hunter College (1964) and her Paralegal Certificate from Mercy College (1991). Prior to entering the public eye in the media frenzy that resulted from the 1987 beating death of her six-year-old adopted daughter, Lisa Steinberg, she worked as an editor of children's books at Random House. Although initially implicated in the crime, charges against Nussbaum were dropped prior to the trial and she testified against her husband, Joel Steinberg, who was convicted of manslaughter and served fifteen years in prison. Trial proceedings revealed that Steinberg had for years abused Nussbaum physically and psychologically, and her book, Surviving Intimate Terrorism (2005), shows the complexity of domestic violence and does much to explain her denial of the danger of her situation and that of her children (the couple also had a younger adopted child, Mitchell). In the years that followed Lisa Steinberg's death, Nussbaum worked to rebuild her life and had numerous reconstructive plastic surgeries. She also co-facilitated a support group for battered women for about eight years and later worked as a paralegal for an organization that helps battered women. In 1995, she began giving talks about abuse at colleges and shelters but when Steinberg was released from prison in 2004, she receded from public attention. Nussbaum is also the author of two children's books: Plants Do Amazing Things (1977) and Animals Build Amazing Houses (1979).
From the guide to the Hedda Nussbaum Papers MS 642., c1940s-2009 (ongoing), (Sophia Smith Collection)
