Leah Alder, the mother of world famous filmmaker Steven Spielberg, passed away Tuesday in Los Angeles at the age of 97,
Adler, born in Cincinnati to Jennie and Philip Posner, was raised in an observant Jewish household. She married Arnold Spielberg in 1945 and had four children: Steven, Anne, Sue, and Nancy.
As an Orthodox Jewish family, the Spielbergs suffered from regular anti-Semitic harassment by neighbors.
“We lived in an all non-Jewish neighborhood,” Adler told 60 Minutes. “These people used to chant ‘The Spielbergs are dirty Jews.’”
In 1966 Adler divorced Arnold Spielberg, marrying his friend, Bernie Adler in 1967.
Along with her husband, Adler maintained a kosher restaurant in Los Angeles called “The Milky Way”.
Adler is survived by her four children, 11 grandchildren, and 5 great-grandchildren.