Edith Windsor

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Edith "Edie" Windsor
Edie Windsor DC Pride 2017 (cropped).jpg
Edith Windsor in 2017
Born
Edith Schlain

(1929-06-20)June 20, 1929
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedSeptember 12, 2017(2017-09-12) (aged 88)
New York City, New York
Alma materNew York University
Temple University
EmployerIBM
Known forUnited States v. Windsor
MovementLGBT rights
Spouse(s)Saul Windsor (?-?; div.)
Thea Clara Spyer
(m. 2007; died 2009)

Judith Kasen (m. 2016)
Awardssee below
WebsiteEdieWindsor.com

Edith "Edie" Windsor[1] (née Schlain; June 20, 1929 – September 12, 2017) was an American lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights activist and a former technology manager at IBM.[2][3]

Windsor was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court of the United States case United States v. Windsor, which successfully overturned Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act and was considered a landmark legal victory for the same-sex marriage movement in the United States.

Windsor died in Manhattan, New York on September 12, 2017 at the age of 88.

Early life and education[change | change source]

Windsor was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to James and Celia Schlain, a Russian Jewish immigrant family of modest means. She was the youngest of three children.[2][3][4] During her childhood, her family suffered as a result of the Great Depression, and her father lost both his candy-and-ice-cream store and their home above it.[2][5] In school, she at times experienced anti-Semitism.[3][6] Throughout school, she dated boys her age, but said later she recalls having crushes on girls.[3][7]

Windsor received her bachelor's degree from Temple University in 1950.[2][8] In 1955, she began pursuing a master's degree in mathematics, which she obtained from New York University in 1957.[2][3][6] She then joined IBM, where she worked for the next sixteen years. During this time, she spent two semesters studying applied mathematics at Harvard University on an IBM fellowship.[2]

References[change | change source]

  1. ↑ Curtis M. Wong (September 12, 2017). "Bill Clinton, Andy Cohen, Lea DeLaria And More Mourn Edie Windsor's Death". Huffington Post. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 "Affidavit of Edith Schlain Windsor" (PDF). nyclu.org. United States District Court Southern District of New York. June 23, 2011. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Eliza Gray (December 11, 2013). "Edith Windsor, The Unlikely Activist". Time. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  4. ↑ Naomi Zeveloff. "Forward 50 (2013): Edith Windsor". The Forward. Retrieved October 23, 2014. Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ↑ "Windsor Amended Complaint". box.com.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Jill Hamburg Coplan (Fall 2011). "When a Woman Loves a Woman". nyu.edu. NYU Alumni Magazine (17). Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  7. ↑ Totenberg, Nina (March 21, 2013). "Meet The 83-Year-Old Taking On The U.S. Over Same-Sex Marriage". All Things Considered. NPR. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  8. ↑ Graham, Kristen A. (April 28, 2014). "At Temple, an alumna once closeted gets a hero's welcome back". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved October 12, 2015.

Other websites[change | change source]


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