ANASTASIA DUNAU

1919 - 2019

DUNAU Judge ANASTASIA T. DUNAU Pioneering Attorney Judge Anastasia Thannhauser Dunau, formerly of Bethesda, Maryland, died on September 7, 2019 at her home in Peabody Massachusetts. This summer she celebrated her 100th birthday at her summer home in Wolfeboro, NH surrounded by over 60 people from her beloved circle of family and friends. Her career as an attorney spanned over fifty years, and reflected women's participation in the law and workforce. She was born in Munich, Germany in 1919, daughter of Siegfried Thannhauser and Franziska (Reiner) Thannhauser. In 1935, she immigrated with her family to Boston, Massachusetts, following the dismissal of her father by the Nazis from his position as professor of medicine at the University of Freiburg. Although she spoke minimal English when she arrived in the United States, she graduated Smith College in 1941 Phi Beta Kappa. She went to Yale Law School, where she was an editor of the Yale Law Review, and was one of three women in the class of 1943. Upon graduation, she was hired by Hughes, Hubbard & Ewing in New York City; becoming their only female attorney. In 1947, she joined the National Labor Relations Board, where she met her future husband, Bernard Dunau. Following the birth of their first child in 1952, she left the NLRB to raise a family, eventually having four children. She continued practicing law by volunteering her services to the Legal Aid Society, and freelancing for sole practitioners, shaping diverse cases. In 1958, the DC Court randomly assigned an indigent prisoner's appeals case to her husband, Bernard Dunau. She researched the case and joined her husband in the brief to the Supreme Court, which overturned the conviction of their client. The ruling by the Supreme Court set the precedent that withholding medical treatment to obtain a confession was unconstitutional (Dandridge v. United States (1958) 609). In 1963, she was hired as an attorney for the US Labor Department, negotiating to work part-time to meet the needs of her family. She became the Labor Department's first part-time woman attorney. Until 1979, she enforced the Fair Labor Standards Act, and litigated cases that involved the Equal Pay Act of 1963. She coined the term "substantially equivalent," and through litigation and case law established the term as a legal concept to prevent small differences in contracts between men and women as a means to keep women from getting equal pay. When the Equal Pay Act of 1963 was amended to stop this practice, her term, substantially equivalent, was incorporated into the legislation. Following the death of her husband in 1975, she worked full time as an attorney for the Labor Department. 1n 1979, she became an Administrative Law Judge for the Labor Department, hearing cases that for the most part involved the Black Lung Act. She traveled through Appalachia many weeks of the year to adjudicate these cases. She retired in 1985. For the next dozen years, she volunteered her legal services to the Legal Counsel for the Elderly of AARP. Judge Dunau's career was informed by her kind heart, intolerance of injustice and brilliant mind. She did not think of herself as a pioneer for women who wished to have a career and to raise a family, or claim that her achievements were part of a plan, but for three generations she was an example that discrimination of women by culture and law could be overcome. An inspiration to many, her standing offer to those finding their way was "to lend an ear at any time and to provide a bed if needed." She is survived by her four children; Mark, Frank, Miriam and Andrew, and ten grandchildren; Bera, Ben, Peter, Shane, Max, Casey, David, Sam, Lindsey, and Leah. A memorial service is planned for October 5, 2019 at 10 AM at the Kaplan Estates, 240 Lynnfield Street, Peabody, Massachusetts. In remembrance of Judge Dunau (Stasi), please consider a contribution to the League of Women Voters or Emily's List.In remembrance of Judge Dunau (Stasi), please consider a contribution to the League of Women Voters or Emily's List.