Rosalie Silber Abrams (June 2, 1916 – February 27, 2009) was a member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

(1967–70) and

Maryland State Senate The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single ...

(1970–84). She was the first female and

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

majority leader of the state Senate (1978–82). Appointed by Governor

Harry Hughes Harry Roe Hughes (November 13, 1926 – March 13, 2019) was an American politician from the Democratic Party who served as the 57th Governor of Maryland from 1979 to 1987. Early life and family Hughes was born in Easton, Maryland, the ...

, Abrams headed the Maryland Office on Aging (now Department of Aging) from 1983 until retiring in 1996.

Early life

Rosalie Silber was born to Dora (née Rodbell) and Isaac "Ike" Silber in

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...

on June 2, 1916. Her mother was an immigrant from

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

and her father an immigrant from

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. Her parents owned a bakery in East Baltimore called Silber's Bakery. She graduated from Western High School in the 1930s. She attended Sinai Hospital School of Nursing and became a

registered nurse A registered nurse (RN) is a healthcare professional who has graduated or successfully passed a nursing program from a recognized nursing school and met the requirements outlined by a country, state, province or similar government-authorized ...

. She also attended

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. She later attended

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

and graduated with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

in 1963 and a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

in political science in 1969. Her master's thesis was ''State Governmental Structure Affecting Enactment and Implementation of a Federal Program: A Case Study of Medicaid in Maryland''.

Personal life

She married William Abrams in 1954. He died in 1978. Together, they had one daughter, Elizabeth "Lissa" Abrams.

Career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Abrams worked as a nurse in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

. She returned to work at Silber's Bakery in 1947 and worked there until she married in 1954. She also taught

sex education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...

classes at Patterson High School. Abrams was elected to the

in 1966 and served until 1970. Abrams represented Northwest Baltimore in the

from 1970 until 1984. In 1983, she was appointed by Governor

as the director of the Maryland Office of Aging. She served in that role until she retired in 1996.

Death

Abrams died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

at Gilchrist Hospice Care in

Towson, Maryland Towson () is an unincorporated community and a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The population was 59,533 in the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Baltimore County and the second-most populous unincorpo ...

on February 27, 2009.

References

1916 births 2009 deaths Politicians from Baltimore Columbia University School of Nursing alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni World War II nurses Democratic Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates Democratic Party Maryland state senators Women state legislators in Maryland 20th-century American women politicians 20th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly State cabinet secretaries of Maryland Jewish state legislators in Maryland {{Maryland-politician-stub