Mildred A. Schwab (January 9, 1917 – was an attorney and politician from

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

, in the United States. She served as a

City Commissioner City commission government is a form of local government in the United States. In a city commission government, voters elect a small commission, typically of five to seven members, typically on a plurality-at-large voting basis. These commissione ...

from 1973 to 1986; she was appointed to fill the vacancy created when

Neil Goldschmidt Neil Edward Goldschmidt (born June 16, 1940) is an American businessman and Democratic politician from the state of Oregon who held local, state and federal offices over three decades. After serving as the United States Secretary of Transportat ...

was elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

, and was re-elected three times. Her brother, Herbert M. Schwab, served on the

Oregon Court of Appeals The Oregon Court of Appeals is the state intermediate appellate court in the US state of Oregon. Part of the Oregon Judicial Department, it has thirteen judges and is located in Salem. Except for death penalty cases, which are reserved to the O ...

Life

She was born in Portland to Jewish immigrants and grew up in northeast Portland, at the poor end of lower middle class. She attended Grant High School and the Northwestern School of Business. She was one of the first women to study law, and graduated from

Northwestern College of Law The Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College (also known as Lewis & Clark Law School), is an American Bar Association-approved private law school in Portland, Oregon. The law school received ABA approval in 1970 and joined the Ass ...

(at Lewis & Clark College) in 1939 and qualified for the Oregon Bar. She worked as a lawyer until her appointment to the Portland City Council. She took office on the council on December 29, 1972. In 1971, Portland still had two lunch spots closed to women. Schwab organized a sit-in at Perkins' Pub (in the basement of Lipman-Wolfe), which succeeded in opening the establishment to women. She also was part of a small group (also including

Gretchen Kafoury Gretchen Miller Kafoury (June 23, 1942 – March 13, 2015) was an American politician, who served in the Oregon House of Representatives, the Multnomah County Commission, and the Portland, Oregon, Portland City Council. She served in the legislat ...

) who opened

City Club of Portland The City Club of Portland is a nonprofit, nonpartisan civic organization based in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Established in 1916, the organization had approximately 1500 members and a paid staff of 4 in 2013. The former Mayor of Portlan ...

to women. She was the first woman nominated to be a

Portland Rose Festival The Portland Rose Festival is an annual civic festival held during the month of June in Portland, Oregon. It is organized by the volunteer non-profit Portland Rose Festival Association with the purpose of promoting the Portland region. It inclu ...

ambassador (or Royal Rosarian), though she declined the honor. Part of her time as city commissioner was in charge of the police and fire departments—Portland's equivalent of police commissioner—for which she received great support.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwab, Mildred 1917 births 1999 deaths Jewish American people in Oregon politics Kellogg School of Management alumni Portland City Council members (Oregon) Lewis & Clark College alumni 20th-century American politicians Women city councillors in Oregon 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century American Jews