Philanthropist, board member, and civic volunteer Miriam Jay Wurts Andrus was born in New York City, the only child of Edith Maud Benedict and Pierre Jay Wurts. She attended the Dwight School in Englewood, New Jersey, Vassar College (A.B. 1931), Columbia University (1932-1933), and Johns Hopkins University (A.M. 1934), where she studied international relations. In 1933 she married Edwin Cowles Andrus (1896-1978), a cardiologist at Johns Hopkins University Medical School; they had no children. An accomplished pianist and photographer, Andrus frequently accompanied her husband to meetings around the world, and was an active volunteer in many organizations, including the League of Women Voters, United World Federalists, and Center Stage Repertory Theater in Baltimore, Maryland. With funds inherited from her mother's family, she supported many organizations, including the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Vassar College, and the Peabody Institute. One of the first female elders of the Brown Memorial Presbyterian Church in Baltimore, she was a strong supporter of the church, providing funding to repair its Tiffany windows. Andrus later suffered from arthritis and dementia and died in Baltimore in 2000.
From the description of Papers of Miriam Jay Wurts Andrus, 1834-2000 (inclusive). (Harvard University). WorldCat record id: 428960192
