Following is the obituary for SELMA MIRIAM, submitted by her family.

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Selma Miriam, radical feminist and founder of Bloodroot Vegetarian Restaurant and Feminist Bookstore in Bridgeport, passed away peacefully on Feb. 6, 2025, at her home in Westport. 

Selma is survived by her former husband, Abe Bunks; her children, Sabrina and Carey; by Carolanne Curry, her companion and partner, and by Noel Furie, longtime friend and business partner at Bloodroot. 

Selma was born in Bridgeport in 1935 to Elias Davidson (owner of Davidson’s Fabrics) and Faye Davidson. She attended Bassick High School and then went on to Tufts University (the women’s division was called Jackson at the time). In 1956, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with degrees in biology and psychology. 

Nevertheless, Selma always said that the best thing she learned in college was how to knit European style!

Early in their marriage, Selma and Abe moved to Westport, where they raised their two children, Carey and Sabrina. 

There in Westport, as an advocate for social justice, Selma spearheaded Project Concern, an anti-racism busing plan which was quite radical for its time. She became active in the League of Women Voters, and helped form the NOW (National Organization for Women) chapter with Priscilla Feral and other women. She led the planning of a controversial anti-pornography rally, which occurred on Jesup Green. Selma was alway in the forefront of radical feminist thought and action. 

Over time, Selma decided that she needed to create work which expressed her feminist values. Bloodroot pretty much covered that need and so was born in March 1977. Over the years, Selma explored and created recipes from around the globe. Her love of food and people was expressed in an entree or a soup, which would often please or surprise a customer from the same part of the world. 

While running Bloodroot, she met and became friends with many feminist luminaries of that time. For instance, Audre Lorde, Adrienne Rich, Mary Daly and Andrea Dworkin amongst many others, visited and spoke at Bloodroot. 

As passionate as she was about her feminist politics and exploration of food from different parts of the world, she was equally invested in other creative endeavors. 

Selma designed beautiful gardens for a number of clients with well-known gardener, Eloise Ray and then on her own. She became a member of COMA (Connecticut Mycological Association) and hunted mushrooms with Sam Ristich, a naturalist and mushroom guru. 

She was a member of the Weaver’s Guild of Connecticut and always looked forward to the monthly meetings held in Glastonbury. Throughout her life, Selma created hundreds of beautiful fiber arts items. She learned to spin, to knit, to crochet, to quilt and to weave. 

There was hardly a moment in Selma’s life when she wasn’t producing a thing of beauty, or planning one. 

Another interest of Selma’s was traveling and during her lifetime she planned journeys to many spots around the world. Early on, she traveled to Papua, New Guinea, to search for orchids in the rainforest there. With her friends, she visited many places in India, the Umbria region in Italy, Istanbul, Turkey, Montreal and Vancouver, Canada — always with the focus on fiber arts and food. 

Selma never followed the usual tourist itineraries: she created her own! For a number of years, she also traveled around the United States to attend SOAR (Spin-off Autumn Retreat) and to meet with other spinners of wool, cotton and flax. 

Selma was a force of nature and will be missed terribly. 

A celebration of Selma’s life will occur on March 9, at 6 p.m., at the United Congregational Church in Bridgeport. 

In lieu of gifts or flowers, please donate to one of the following organizations that Selma supported: MADRE, an international human rights organization, and Mercy Learning Center, which provides free literacy and life skills education to low-income women in the greater Bridgeport area.