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Rose Slavitt
1895-1969 Rose Slavitt was the first woman to manage a department at Prudential Insurance Co in 1952. She was manager of Debit Policy Division 2 and worked for Prudential for many years, starting a messenger. She said, “This is a terrific challenge to me…The confidence my superiors have shown by giving me this promotion is…
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J. Isabelle Sims
c. 1873-1952 J Isabelle Sims was a prolific Newark social worker and lifelong Newarker. Isabelle directed Fresh Air Fund Camps for 32 years and would travel to be at the Summit camp even when in a wheelchair in later life. She was an executive of 1923 Community Chest Campaign and director of the Newark Welfare…
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Delores Rich
1948-1996 Delores Rich was President of the Aspen Riverpark Tenants Association, who did lots of organizing for tenants in the building. Tenants were forced out of the old Prudential Apartments to allow Aspen to renovate it. Delores and others organized to pressure the state to allow tenants to return and continually organized for better conditions…
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Dr. Sarah D. Smalley
1875-1952 Dr. Sarah Smalley was native of Newark who practiced in Newark from 1900-1952, for 52 years. She was active in the Newark Equal Suffrage League and a charter member of Zonta International. She was active in the Essex County Medical Society, practicing at multiple hospitals. Sarah was educated in Newark and a graduate of…
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Dr. Rita Sapiro Finkler
1888-1968 Dr. Finkler established and headed the endocrinology department at Beth Israel Hospital. This was the first endocrinology department in New Jersey. She also practiced medicine in Newark for 55 years and wrote over 70 papers. She was president of the NJ Women’s Medical Association and received the Woman of the Year award from the…
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Marie Wolfs
1885-1986 Marie Wolfs was a Vice Principal of South Side High School for more than 30 years until her retirement in 1951. However, she had a very exciting life outside the school. In 1914, she and her sister Helen, who also worked at South Side, were caught in the bombing of Liege, Belgium. According to…
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Aileen Fong Shane
1926-2017 Born and raised in Newark’s Chinatown Aileen Fong Shane was an early woman engineer, graduating from Newark College of Engineering in 1946, at just age 19. In a 1947 article in the Star Ledger she was called an “outstanding female student” who graduated “near top of her class.. one of few woman mechanical engineers…
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Helen Pollard Zimmer
1910-1980 Helen Zimmer was corporate secretary (secretary/treasurer) of Fidelity Union Bank from 1964-1975 and previously assistant secretary 1961-1964 and with Fidelity from 1956. Helen was the first woman officer of the bank in Newark and the first woman in Newark to be elected corporate secretary. She said, “I’m waiting for company. There’s plenty of opportunity!”…
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Marion Roberson Kidd
1928-2012 Marion Kidd was a community activist working for welfare rights, who also worked many years with the North Jersey Community Union. In 1966, she led a group of welfare mothers to complain about welfare issues to the Essex County Welfare Board. In 1967, she was chairwoman of the UCC Welfare Committee, for Area Board…
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Dorothy Gould
1922 – 2015 Dorothy Gould was an early Black teacher, hired in 1943 for $144 a month at Cleveland Junior High as a “permanent sub” since Black teachers couldn’t be officially hired above primary level. One of her students was Mayor Gibson. Dorothy came to Montgomery Street School around 1967, and by the 1970s, she…