Annette Greenfield Strauss
Starting as a volunteer fund-raiser for the United Jewish Appeal, Annette Greenfield Strauss went on to raise more than twenty million dollars for various institutions in a career that included her election as the first female and the first Jewish mayor of Dallas, Texas.
Institution: Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Participation, Austin, Texas
Annette Strauss earned a master’s degree in sociology from Columbia in 1944 while working as a fashion model. Two years later, she married and moved to Dallas, where she began volunteering and fundraising, generating $20 million for United Jewish Appeal, United Way, and other local and national campaigns. In 1983 she joined the Dallas City Council; she became mayor pro tem in 1984, winning the election for mayor in 1987. As mayor, she created Family Gateway, a homeless shelter that enabled families to stay together and provided childcare for parents while they looked for work. After completing her term in 1991, she served as director and trustee for a number of organizations.
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Who’s Who in American Politics. New Providence, NJ: 1993.
Who’s Who of Women in World Politics. New York: 1991.
Who’s Who in Advertising. New Providence, NJ: 1990.
Who’s Who of American Women. New Providence, NJ: 1993.
Who’s Who in the South and Southwest. New Providence, NJ: 1988.
Winegarten, Ruthe, and Cathy Schecter. Deep in the Heart: The Lives and Legends of Texas Jews. Austin: 1990.
“Annette Strauss, 1924–1998.” Editorial in Dallas Business Journal, December 18, 1999.
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