- Date Of Birth: May 30, 1931
- Date Of Death: January 18, 2020
- State: New Jersey
Rita Ann Bettenbender was born in Chicago, IL in 1931. A graduate of Loyola University’s Mundelein College, she was a teacher, actress and playwright.
She and her late husband, John I. Bettenbender, moved to New Jersey in 1971 where he went on to become the founding dean of the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. A recent resident of Montclair, New Jersey, Rita devoted many years to teaching film appreciation courses at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Rutgers University and, most recently, at the Montclair Public Library.
A passionate thinker, avid reader, devoted friend to many and a loving presence in the lives of her family members, Rita approached everything she did with energy, humor and kindness. She is survived by a son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren as well as seven step-children and their children and grandchildren.
