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

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

, in the United States. She served as a City Commissioner from 1973 to 1986; she was appointed to fill the vacancy created when

Neil Goldschmidt Neil Edward Goldschmidt (June 16, 1940 – June 12, 2024) was an American businessman and Democratic politician from the state of Oregon who held local, state, and federal offices over three decades. After serving as mayor of Portland, Oregon, ...

was elected

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, 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 responsibilitie ...

, 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 (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 City Council. She served in the legislature from 1977–8 ...

) who opened City Club of Portland 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 Foundation (named the Portland Rose Festival Association until the 2000s ...

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 A police commissioner is the head of a police department, responsible for overseeing its operations and ensuring the effective enforcement of laws and maintenance of public order. They develop and implement policies, manage budgets, and coordinate ...

—for which she received great support.

References

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