Faye Hersh Dambrot, 1935-2000

Faye Dambrot made Akron her home in 1958, and it's safe to say she began to working to make it a better place shortly thereafter. Through the years Dambrot logged thousands of volunteer hours in leadership roles as co-founder of Women's History Project of the Akron Area, the Women's Network, the Women's History Project, and the Rape Crisis Center. The Women's History Project attained national prominence through Dambrot's work, much of which is archived in the National Women's History Project.

Born Faye Hersh in Pittsburgh, she received her B.S. from Carnegie Tech and her Master's Degree in Psychology from The University of Akron. She taught in the UA Psychology Department from 1966-89, during which time she originated the course of studies in Gender Identity and Roles. She was also on the interdisciplinary committee that formed the Women's Studies Program at the university. From 1976-82 Dambrot served as an administrative assistant to the UA Department of Psychology, assisting more than 300 undergraduates each year.

From 1992-95 she served as project director for developing community plans to improve math, science and technology education for women and minorities for the Women's Network, Ohio Department of Education and Summit County Education Partnership Foundation.

Dambrot received the prestigious distinction of Associate Professor Emeritus in 1989 and was posthumously inducted into the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame in 2000. But her achievements are best remembered in her legacy and in the people she inspired that are still working in the areas Dambrot embraced.

As the Akron Women's History Project book Summit County Women As Winners said in 1986, "if it were not for Faye Dambrot, it is unlikely that Women's History Week would be observed in the Akron area. She has been the catalyst bringing together diverse women's organizations in the community, the energizer in their achievement and the promoter (and securer) of funding. Faye has demonstrated leadership, organizational skill, imagination, dedication, resourcefulness, strategy, tolerance, patience, imagination and tireless effort--all par excellence."

Dambrot died March 17, 2000 from a recurrence of lung cancer at age 65 after spending the final weeks of her life working from her hospital bed. Her final project was to memorialize the former slave Sojourner Truth and her famous speech "And Ain't I a Woman?" given at the Akron's Woman's Rights Convention in 1851.

Photo Courtesy of the Beacon Journal.

--Zachary Jackson