Joan Levy Specter (March 5, 1934 – June 29, 2024) was an American businesswoman and politician. She was a member of the

Philadelphia City Council The Philadelphia City Council is the legislative body of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is composed of 17 councilmembers: ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large from throughou ...

, and the widow of

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

Arlen Specter Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican fr ...

Professional career

Specter held a BA from Southern Connecticut College and an MA in food and design from

Drexel University Drexel University is a private university, private research university with its main campus in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Drexel's undergraduate school was founded in 1891 by Anthony Joseph Drexel, Anthony J. Drexel, a financier ...

. Upon her graduation from Drexel, she founded several cooking schools in the Philadelphia-area. In the 1970s, she hosted a consumer advice and food-related program on a local radio station, and wrote a weekly column for the ''

Philadelphia Bulletin The ''Philadelphia Bulletin'' (or ''The Bulletin'' as it was commonly known) was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was ...

''. Specter also began selling her pies to local restaurants. Eventually, the business grew into a wholesale distribution company which operated in several dozen states. Specter's pies were billed as "America's first gourmet frozen pies which require no baking, decorating or special preparations".

Political career

Specter left the business world in 1979, when she was elected to one of the two allotted minority Republican Party at-large seats on the Philadelphia City Council. She was re-elected three more times, though she finished third in the 1991 primary, behind her colleague on Council, W. Thacher Longstreth and Joseph Egan Jr. However, prior to the general election, former Democratic

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 ...

Frank Rizzo Francis Lazarro Rizzo (October 23, 1920 – July 16, 1991) was an American police officer and politician. He served as commissioner of the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) from 1967 to 1971 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1972 to 1980. He wa ...

, who had switched to the Republican Party and was its nominee in that year's Mayoral election, died. Egan was subsequently selected to take Rizzo's spot on the ballot (and lost to former

District Attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

Ed Rendell Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American politician, author, and former prosecutor who served as the 45th governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011. He previously served as chair of the national Democratic Party from 1999 to 2 ...

), and Longstreth and Specter were both re-elected. In 1995, she and Longstreth were challenged by two high-profile Republicans–Rizzo's son, Frank Jr. and former

Congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

Charles Dougherty.

Personal life and death

Specter was married to her husband, Arlen, from 1953 until his death in 2012. The couple had two sons, Shanin and Dr. Stephen E. Specter of West Hollywood, California. She resided in

Haverford, Pennsylvania Haverford is an Unincorporated area#United States, unincorporated community located in both Haverford Township, Pennsylvania, Haverford Township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, and Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, Lower Merio ...

. Joan Specter died from complications from dementia on June 29, 2024, at the age of 90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Specter, Joan 1934 births 2024 deaths Philadelphia City Council members Southern Connecticut State University alumni Drexel University alumni Pennsylvania Republicans Women city councillors in Pennsylvania 21st-century American women 20th-century American women politicians Deaths from dementia in Pennsylvania 20th-century Pennsylvania politicians