Born in New York City and raised in a Zionist home, she dreamed in her youth of visiting pre-state Israel and made her first visit there in 1935.
The memory of standing before the Western Wall, she later said, “enhanced my whole life and encouraged me to work for Hadassah, to believe in Israel and to struggle for the state of Israel.”
After working as a teacher in the New York City schools, Freund-Rosenthal received her doctorate in American history from New York University, with a specialty in American Jewish history. A contributor to many Zionist and Jewish publications, she wrote four books: “Jewish Merchants in Colonial America,” “Jewels for a Crown,” “In My Lifetime” and “A Tapestry of Hadassah Memories.”
Deeply committed to the power of education as the key to Jewish continuity, she endowed Hadassah educational seminars in the United States and Israel.
She and her late husband, Harry Rosenthal, were also benefactors to Hadassah’s projects in Jerusalem and established clinics, research scholarships and parks, and donated a Yaacov Agam sculpture that stands near the Abell Synagogue.
In addition, Freund-Rosenthal was a national officer of the Jewish National Fund as well as a national vice president of the women’s division of Brandeis University.
She was a life member of the actions committee of the World Zionist Congress and of the Zionist general council of the World Zionist Organization.
She served on the board of governors of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and was also a board member of the United Israel Appeal, a vice president of the American Zionist Federation and a member of the assembly of the Jewish Agency.
She is survived by two sons, Harry and Matthew Freund, grandchildren and great grandchildren.