Photographer Who Documented Jewish Lower East Side, Dies at 98
Rebecca Lepkoff, a photographer who documented Jewish life on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, has died. Lepkoff, who grew up in a Jewish neighborhood there, died Sunday at 98.
Her series of photographs showing the Lower East Side was taken in the 1940s and 1950s.
Lepkoff lived a portion of the year in Vermont, where she photographed the hippie community of Pikes Falls, according to an obituary in the Commons, a Vermont publication.
In New York, she was a member of the Photo League, a group of acclaimed photographers who aimed to photograph how ordinary people lived. The group was disbanded during the Red Scare of the 1950s.
“She lived a long and incredible life,” said her son, Jesse, according to the Commons. “She was an amazing artist, mother and person.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.