Ruth Brewer Eisenberg

Ruth Brewer Eisenberg
With husband, ca. 1927–1928
Nationality	American
Occupation	Pianist
Years active	1983-1988
Known for	Playing in piano duo, Ebony and Ivory
Style	Classical
Spouse(s)	Jacob Eisenberg (musician)
Partner(s)	Margaret Patrick
Relatives	Mendelson Joe (nephew)

Ruth Brewer Eisenberg (1902–1996) was "Ivory" of "Ebony and Ivory," the inter-racial piano duo. Eisenberg and Margaret Patrick, "Ebony," each had a stroke in 1982, which partially disabled them. Prior to the stroke, each had studied and played classical piano. Eisenberg was disabled on the left, Patrick on the right. They were introduced at a post-stroke group in Englewood, New Jersey by the program's director, who knew of their shared love for music and thought perhaps together, they could play as one. A reporter dubbed them "Ebony and Ivory" after the song by Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder, which was then a hit.

Eisenberg was born in New York in 1902 and grew up in West New York, New Jersey. At the age of eight, Eisenberg had a few piano lessons, but at 25¢, her parents felt they were too expensive and she didn't have enough talent, so her lessons were discontinued. In 1923, she married Jacob Eisenberg, a pianist, teacher and author. Eisenberg pestered his new wife to let him teach her how to play, but she didn't like to practice, so he agreed to do all the housework if she would practice the piano and she accepted the offer.Eisenberg's husband wrote textbooks on piano technique and he wanted to use his wife to try out his methods. She toured the United States with him, playing at his lectures to demonstrate how adults could learn to master the piano using her husband's methods. After her husband passed on in 1964, she sold their piano, but later missed it and bought another one. The first day she had the new piano, she played for eight hours. In time, she was playing short concerts for local senior citizen groups.

In 1982, she suffered a stroke. Although she learned to walk again and was able to return to her apartment in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, she remained unable to use her left hand. In the spring of 1983, she began visiting a post-stroke group at Southeast Senior Center for Independent Living in Englewood, New Jersey. The program director introduced her to Margaret Patrick, a black great-grandmother who had also played classical music until 1982, when she also suffered a stroke.