Lucy S. Howorth, an accomplished lawyer and champion of women’s rights, died on August 23rd of a heart attack. Howorth attended women’s suffrage meetings with her mother and was known for her independent and determined spirit.
Howorth, as general counsel to the War Claims Commission, became one of the first women to hold this position at a federal agency. Howorth gave the opening address at Eleanor Roosevelt’s 1944 White House Conference on Women in Postwar Policy Making and served on President John F. Kennedy’s Commission on the Status of Women. Howorth was a former president of the Business and Professional Women’s Club of Washington and a vice president for the American Association of University Women, where she defeated the AAUW’s policy of racial segregation and led a task force on women’s post-WWII employment opportunities. Howorth mentored and advised women throughout her long and successful career.
