East Syracuse, NY -- Growing up, Lois Kriesberg always thought she could have been a good athlete. But there were no organized sports teams for girls when she was in school in early 1940s. “She’d say, ‘I was born too early,’” said her long-time friend and colleague, Karen DeCrow, an employment lawyer from Pompey. Kriesberg, a public interest attorney...
View full sizeLois KriesbergBut there were no organized sports teams for girls when she was in school in early 1940s.
“She’d say, ‘I was born too early,’” said her long-time friend and colleague, Karen DeCrow, an employment lawyer from Pompey.
Kriesberg, a public interest attorney and a well-known activist who helped bring equality to women in the Syracuse community, died Wednesday from chronic lymphocytic leukemia. She was 82.
“I think her own experiences convinced her there was an inequality between women and men,” DeCrow said. “She didn’t just want to talk about it. She wanted to change things.”
Kriesberg grew up in Chicago and moved to Syracuse in 1962. She taught anthropology and psychology for many years before deciding to go to law school at the age of 47.
“Some people said, ‘But you’ll be 50 when you finish,’” said her husband, Louis Kriesberg. “She would say, I’ll be 50 whether or not I go to law school.”
Lois Kriesberg continued to model that drive and ambition throughout her life, family and friends said. She showed others they could accomplish whatever they set their minds to and make a difference, they said.
Kriesberg and four other women — retired Family Court Judge Minna Buck, lawyer Christine Scofield, City Court Judge Karen Uplinger and DeCrow — were known as the Onondaga Five.
They led a fight to gain assignments to represent clients in felony cases, then a rare occurrence in a male-dominated field. Before that, women could not attend some of their own Bar Association meetings at the University Club, which was restricted to male members. They also wanted to see women serve on the board of directors, which had never happened before. Today, the president of the Onondaga County Bar Association is a woman.
“We wanted to change the profession of law here and throughout the whole country,” DeCrow said.
In 2003, the five women received the Women’s Bar Association of State of New York’s Founders Award for helping bring equality to women in the legal profession in the mid-1970s in both Onondaga County and the state.
Louis Kriesberg said he most admired his wife’s independence and her fortitude, and he never had any doubt she would help transform the legal profession for women today.
As a lawyer, Lois Kriesberg represented children in Family Court. Her husband said she was concerned with the rights of children, as well as women, minorities and the poor. She also was an active member in the local New York State Women’s Bar Association, New York Civil Liberties Union and Greater Syracuse NOW (National Organization for Women).
She retired as a lawyer 2007, her husband said. But Lois Kriesberg never stopped advocating for women.
Kriesberg and Buck were in the midst of working on a project for Greater Syracuse NOW to improve access for women in prison to their children, DeCrow said. “We felt it was unfair for the children to be denied access to their mothers,” said DeCrow, who worked with Kriesberg in the Greater Syracuse NOW for more than 30 years. “The more contact you have with the outer world, the easier the transition when you come out.”
“She’s done a lot to change things in this community,” DeCrow said.
Lois and Louis Kriesberg, of East Syracuse, celebrated their 50th anniversary last August. They have two sons, Daniel (and Karen), of Bayville, and Joseph (and Dina), of Boston, Mass., and four grandchildren, Zachary, 15, Scott, 12, Josh, 16, and Mike Kriesberg, 14.
Catie O’Toole can be reached at cotoole@syracuse.com or 470-2134.