Category: 1930-1959 (Born)
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Maria Vizcarrondo-De Soto
1951- Maria Vizcarrondo-De Soto had many important executive roles in the community. She served as director of ASPIRA for many years, was the first Hispanic elected Essex county official and then was the first woman and Latina President of United Way of Essex and Hudson, for 10 years. She also was the first director of…
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Myrna Milan
1954- Myrna Milan-Rivera Myrna Milan was the first Hispanic woman Newark municipal judge in 1988 and active with the Puerto Rican Congress and ASPIRA. As a judge, she was well-known for developing alternative sentences for offenders, according to the book Latinas: Hispanic Women in the US. Myrna was born in Hoboken, of Puerto Rican descent,…
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Carole Anderson Graves
1938- Carol Graves was President of the Newark Teacher’s Union and leader of the 1970/1971 Teachers’ Strikes. She was sentenced to 6 months in jail for her refusal to end the strike. She later ran for General Assembly and served as Essex County Register. Born Carole Anderson, Carole graduated Arts High in 1955. Carole was…
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Janyce Jackson Jones
1951- Janyce Jackson Jones was co-Pastor of Unity Fellowship Church located in Newark, NJ. Prior to UFC, she served as Pastor of Liberation in Truth Unity Fellowship Church for which she was a founding member in 1995. Janyce was executive Director of the Liberation in Truth Social Justice Center, which provided support, groups, education and…
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Gloria Fowles Gaynor
1943- Gloria Gayner, born Gloria Fowles in Newark, is a singer, whose biggest hit is the 1978 “I Will Survive”. Gloria lived on Howard Street and the Stella Wright Projects as a child and graduated South Side High in 1961. In 1963, she wrote a letter to the Star Ledger in tribute to President Kennedy.…
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Sandra L West
1947-2019 Sandra West was a 1964 Weequahic graduate. She was the editor of the Black Organization for Students newsletter at Rutgers and first African American female editor of Rutgers Observer. Sandra worked as a journalist for Information published by the City of Newark, as well as in multiple other journalism positions and freelance for publications…
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Nancy Zak
1948- Nancy Zak is a community organizer for environmental justice and housing with Ironbound Community Corporation. Nancy grew up in Lisle, IL and attended Mundelein University, now Loyola. She came to Newark in the early 1970s where she taught at Independence High School, an alternative school in Newark. By the late 1970s, she worked for…
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Pearl Beatty
1936-2019 Pearl Beatty was an Essex County freeholder (now county commissioner), who the New Jersey Globe called a “legendary veteran of Newark politics”. She said, “the only important tool an individual has is to vote.” President Giblin of the Essex Freeholders said she “lives, eats and breathes Essex County.” She was the sister of Alma…