Irene Butter: key obituary facts
Is Irene Butter dead? Yes. Irene Butter died on October 2, 2026, at age 95.
Cause of death: Irene Butter's cause of death has not been publicly confirmed.
What was Irene Butter known for?
She was a German-born American economist, Holocaust survivor (1930-2026).
More about Irene Butter
Born: 1930.
Place of birth: Berlin.
Place of death: United States.
Gender: female.
Occupation: economist, university teacher, author.
Nationality: United States.
Education: Queens College, Duke University.
Awards: Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Also known as: Irene Hasenbrg Butter.
Title: Professor Emeritus of Public Health.
Irene Butter, the German–American academic and Holocaust survivor, died on October 2, 2026, aged 95.
Born Irene Hasenberg in Berlin in 1930, she became a public health scholar and professor emeritus at the University of Michigan. A German Jew, she survived the Westerbork transit camp and the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp as a young woman.
After her release in a prisoner exchange arranged by her father at the end of 1945, she settled in the United States and later built an academic career that also included teaching and writing.