Elizabeth M. Ruth

Elizabeth Montague Ruth of Springs died on Sunday at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. She was 76 and had had cancer for a year.

Ms. Ruth retired to East Hampton 22 years ago after visiting with a friend. She loved it here and decided to settle in Springs. She took a job at the East Hampton Library, where she was an expert in Scandinavian mystery novels, giving patrons advice on which books were most gripping. In addition to working at the library, Ms. Ruth was politically involved, according to her family. She also wrote sonnets as letters to the editor of The Star. Before moving to Springs, she had been working in New York City in the import-export field for Ralph Lauren and Kate Spade. 

She was born in New Haven, Conn., on July 16, 1942, one of two children of Edward C. Ruth and the former Dorothy Snider. She grew up in Connecticut, graduating from Hamden High School. She earned a B.A. in political science from Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Va.

Ms. Ruth’s brother, Edward Ruth of Sanford, N.C., survives, as do two nephews, a great-nephew, and a great-niece, Vera Elizabeth, who was named for her. 

Ms. Ruth was cremated. Her family will receive visitors at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton on Saturday from 2 to 3:30 p.m., at which time a memorial service without clergy will be held. 

Donations in her memory have been suggested to the East Hampton Library, 159 Main Street, East Hampton 11937.