Gladys M. Herschel

HERSCHEL GLADYS M. HERSCHEL July 29, 1918 - May 7, 2010 Born in Brooklyn NY, died in Sarasota, FL at 91. She had resided in Chicago, IL; Ridgewood, NJ; Washington, DC; and Lambertville, NJ before moving to Sarasota in late 2005 to be near her daughter. A lifelong activist for peace, civil rights, and other progressive causes, Mrs. Herschel was involved in many organizations and political campaigns. In 1963 Mrs. Herschel traveled to Rome with the group Mothers for Peace with activist Dorothy Day for an audience with Pope John XXIII at the Vatican, in support of his encyclical Pacem in Terris. In the summer of 1964, Mrs. Herschel registered voters in Meridian, Mississippi under the aegis of the National Council of Churches. Mrs. Herschel obtained her BS in political science from New York University in 1968. She was elected as an alternate delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention in Miami, pledged to candidate George McGovern. In 1975, Mrs. Herschel joined the Washington staff of former U.S. Rep. Andrew Maguire of NJ (D-NJ) for six years. In her retirement, Mrs. Herschel served as 3rd VP for National Programs of the League of Women Voters of the District of Columbia from 1990-92. Mrs. Herschel was predeceased by her daughter Marguerite Herschel Mittendorf, MD, of Chicago; a sister, Arline Mulligan of San Jose, and a sister Jean who died in childhood. She is survived by a daughter, Janet Herschel O''Brien of Sarasota, and two grandchildren, Robert W. Mittendorf of Los Angeles and Inga N. Mittendorf of New Orleans. Cremation will be followed by interment in Lambertville, NJ, where a private memorial service is planned at summer''s end.