SANFORD GOTTLIEB Obituary

GOTTLIEB--Sanford. Sanford "Sandy" Gottlieb, of Kensington, MD, died on July 29 after a period of declining health. He was born in Brooklyn in 1926, the son of Helen and Sydney Gottlieb. Thanks to the GI Bill, he attended Dartmouth College, class of 1946. A year later, he married fellow Brooklynite Gladys Blumenthal, and they moved to Paris where he attended the Institut d'Etudes Politiques and the Sorbonne, where he obtained his doctorate. They returned to New York in 1952; he worked in the labor movement for the rest of the decade. After relocating to Kensington, from 1960-1994 he devoted his life as a leader of grassroots campaigns for a limited test ban treaty; a negotiated end to the Vietnam War; a boycott of President Reagan's Star Wars program; and reduced military spending. He headed the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy (SANE) for 14 years. Subsequently, he directed New Directions and United Campuses to Prevent Nuclear War, and led a program of the Center for Defense Information. Thanks to his activism, he was included on President Nixon's "Enemies List" and was denied a visa to the Soviet Union. Even before the anti-war presidential campaign of Senator Eugene McCarthy in 1968, he pushed the peace movement to engage in electoral politics. After his retirement, he authored two books, "Defense Addiction: Can America Kick the Habit" (1997) and "Red to Blue: Congressman Van Hollen and Grassroots Politics" (2009). He is survived by his wife Gladys, with whom he would have celebrated 75 years of marriage in September; children Steve (Hong), Barbara (Jose) and Gordon (Rob); his granddaughter Miranda; and many nieces and nephews. A celebration of his life and his work will be held at a later date.