Reitz, Rosetta, 1924-2008.

Business owner, stock broker, university lecturer, and writer on issues including food, feminism, women's health, and female jazz and blues musicians. She was also the founder and owner of Rosetta Records, a company most prominent in the 1980s that was dedicated to re-releasing historic recordings by female jazz and blues musicians.

From the description of Rosetta Reitz papers, 1929-2008. (Duke University Library). WorldCat record id: 435497170

Rosetta Reitz (née Goldman) was born in Utica, New York on September 28, 1924, the youngest of six children. After graduating from the Utica Free Academy at the age of 16, Reitz studied at the University of Buffalo, Syracuse University, and the University of Wisconsin. In 1945, she moved to New York City, where, aside from a brief time living in New Jersey in the 1950s, she would spend the remainder of her life. Reitz married Robert Reitz in the mid-1940s, with whom she had three daughters prior to their divorce in 1963.

During the course of her career, Reitz was involved in a variety of entrepreneurial ventures. She owned several businesses, including the Four Seasons Book Shop (1946-1954), the Four Seasons Greeting Card Company (1954-1961), and Rosetta Records (1979-2008). She worked as a representative and a stock broker for several financial institutions (1967-1970), and she was a newspaper columnist at the Village Voice on issues of food (1958-1963), feminism (1971), and jazz (1973). Reitz lectured at numerous universities on topics including food history (1960-1961), menopause and women's health (1973-1977), and the history of female blues and jazz musicians (1977-2000s). Reitz was also the author of several published books and articles on mushrooms (and food more broadly), menopause (and women's health and feminism more broadly), the blues, and jazz. Among her many honors and awards are: a Wonder Woman Award (1982), a Grandmother Winifred Grant (1994), the International Association of Jazz Educators Outstanding Service Award (1998), and the Veteran Feminists of America Honor Roll (2002). Reitz passed away on November 1, 2008 from issues related to cardiopulmonary disease.

From the guide to the Rosetta Reitz Papers, 1929-2008, (David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University)