Hollywood is overcast with grief as it joins award-winning director Steven Spielberg in mourning the loss of his mother who passed away on Tuesday, February 21. According to Mirror, Spielberg's mother Leah Adler died at home in Los Angeles the age of 97.
Adler married Arnold Meyer Spielberg in February 1945. The Spielberg patriarch was an electrical engineer by profession and incidentally turned 100 years old this month. Apart from Steven, Adler had three other children with Spielberg -- Anne, Sue and Nancy.
The union with Spielberg however, was not meant to last. Adler went on to marry Bernie Adler in 1967 upon settling in Scottsdale, Arizona that year. Bernie did not outlive Adler nor Spielberg, passing away in 1995 at the age of 75.
The Hollywood Reporter narrates, Adler was born as Leah Frances Posner in Cincinnati in the 1920s. Developing a love for music at the age of 5, Adler studied at the Music Conservatory in Ohio and graduated with a home economics degree from the University of Cincinnati.
Adler was known to have an amazing zest for life. She was both a painter and concert pianist during her prime. In a statement sent to the press from Amblin Partners, Spielberg's production company enumerated several traits that described Adler as a free spirit. "Leah is best remembered for her deep, limitless love for the people around her," said Amblin.
Outspokenly supportive of Spielberg's dream of becoming a filmmaker, Adler's Milky Way kosher restaurant on Pico Boulevard is in fact, widely known as a shrine for Steven. Los Angeles Times quoted her in 1994: "I told Steve, if I'd known how famous he was going to be, I'd have had my uterus bronzed."
Survived by four children, eleven grandchildren and five great-grandchildren, the family has not announced any memorial service scheduled for Adler. It is, however, expected to be well-attended by people from inside and outside the industry who plan to pay their last respects to a great lady.
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