 Muriel
Leopold Freeman (January 2, 1917-March 15, 2008)
Author, sportswoman and philanthropist passed away at home in New York
City on March 15, 2008. Muriel Freeman was born on January 2, 1917 to
Mildred and Arthur Leopold in Woodmere, Long Island. She graduated from
Wilson College where she was head of the equestrian team and regularly
competed at the National Horse show at Madison Square Garden. Muriel
was married to Bunny Freeman on September 17, 1937 until his untimely
passing in 1972 at 55 years old. He was an avid golfer and encouraged
her to take up the sport.
During the 1950s, 60s and 70s, she won the Women's Long Island Golf
championship seven times, The Cross County Championship five times,
the Women's Metropolitan Championship once and was the New York State
Championship medalist in 1957. During the 1960s and 70s, she became
more involved in the dog show world. In the 1980s Muriel was the first
non-German and first woman to judge the Rottweiler Bundesieger in Germany--considered
to be the pinnacle in Rottweiler knowledge--and would do it again a
few years later. She also traveled extensively, judging at prestigious
dog shows all over the world.
 Muriel
Freeman was best known in recent years for her extraordinary knowledge
of working and herding dogs. In 1984, she wrote The Complete Rottweiler.
It is in its 26th edition and has sold more volumes than any single
breed dog book. It was required reading for new AKC judges working with
larger breeds. In 1989, she judged Best in show at the Westminster Kennel
Club Show at Madison Square Garden--considered to be pinnacle of the
U.S. dog world by the cognoscenti. As part of her interest in dogs,
Muriel Freeman worked with and endowed many significant studies at the
University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School and the Orthopedic Foundation
for Animals (OF A) to define and limit hip dysplasia and the other diseases
that strike larger dog breeds.
Muriel Freeman passed away at her home in New York City on March 15
leaving her son James and daughter-in-law Laura, three grandchildren,
Rebecca Freeman, Hadley Lehrman and Jim Freeman, grandsonin-law Gary
Lehrman, two great-grandchildren, Jacob and Andrew Lehrman, and her
closest friend Dorothy Collier. Donations in her memory to The
University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School are appreciated by
her family.
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Walking
on the beach one foggy morning, where waves renew the sand with each
passing wave, in front of me were only the paw prints of a lone, but
happy dog, which haphazardly ran somewhere ahead of me. The occasional
print was erased away by a stray, emboldened wave. I turned and looked
behind me and found my footprints neatly adjacent to the same paw prints.
We were walking playfully together - separated only by time. I saw them
and remembered them, much the same way I remember my dear departed friends
- as a pawprint in the sand. Perhaps not forever on this earth, but
as a memory eternal - forever on my soul, walking playfully together
- for life and thereafter. ~Author Unknown
Linda
Stoltz (February 15, 2008) 