Mary Kornbluth Death Revealed

C.M. Kornbluth biographer Mark Rich has disclosed that the author’s wife, Mary Kornbluth, died on June 1, 2007, a fact kept secret at the behest of her son until the passing of Fred Pohl the other day.

The son wrote to Rich in 2009 —

“Can you keep this secret? Don’t tell anybody. She died on June 1, not this year. She died at the age of 86, June 1 in 2007, and she did not want Fred to know about it. She did not want him to know. Then he would come out with these condescending remarks. Quite frankly, the way the country is going I don’t think most people are fit to comment on the weather.”

Her maiden name was Mary G. Byers. She was born September 23, 1920, in Clark City, Ohio.

[Thanks to Andrew Porter and Gordon Van Gelder for the story.]