Ira Gershwin role that Ira played. His mastery of songwriting continued, however, after the early death of George. He wrote additional hit songs with composers Jerome Kern, Kurt Weill, Harry Warren and Harold Arlen. His critically acclaimed 1959 book "Lyrics on Several Occasions", an amalgam of autobiography and annotated anthology, is an important source for studying the art of the lyricist in the golden age of American popular song. Gershwin was born in New York City, the oldest of four children of Morris (Moishe) and Rose Gershovitz (née Rosa Bruskin), who were Russian Jews, born in St Petersburg, who had emigrated to
Ira Chernus Ira Chernus Ira Chernus (born October 29, 1946) is a journalist, author, and Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He received his Ph.D. in Religion from Temple University, specializing in the history of rabbinic Judaism. His academic writing now focuses on the foreign policy of US presidents. He has published books on Dwight Eisenhower and George W. Bush and is currently writing a book on Franklin D. Roosevelt. As a journalist, he has written extensively on peace, war, foreign policy, and nationalism in the United States, as well as the Israel-Palestine conflict and U.S. Middle East