Jeanette Reibman


Jeanette F. Reibman was an American lawyer and politician who served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 18th district from 1969 to 1994. She also served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the Northampton County district from 1955 to 1966. She was one of only two women to have been elected to the Senate for Lehigh and Northhampton counties as of 2015.

Early years and education

Jeanette Fichman was born on August 18, 1915 in Fort Wayne, Indiana to Meir and Pearl Schwartz Fichman and graduated from North Side High School. She received an A.B. degree in Political Science with minors in English and Economics from Hunter College in 1937. She received an L.L.B degree from Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, Indiana in 1940 and entered the bar. She received an L.L.D. degree from Lafayette College in 1969.
She received honorary degrees from Lehigh University, Wilson College, Cedar Crest College and Moravian College.

Career

She worked in Washington, D.C. as an attorney for the United States War Department from 1940 to 1942 and the U.S. War Production Board from 1944 to 1946. After marrying attorney Nathan L. Reibman in 1943, she relocated with him to the Easton, Pennsylvania area to raise a family.
In 1954, the American Association of University Women recommended she run for to the Easton Area School Board and she was elected. She soon realized that she could do more to help with Easton schools at the state level.
Reibman served as member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the Northhampton County district from 1958 to 1966. She served as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 18th district from 1969 to 1996.
Reibman also served as a trustee for Lafayette College from 1970 to 1985.
Inducted into the Indiana University School of Law Academy of Alumni Fellows in 1993, Reibman retired from her elected position with the Pennsylvania Senate in 1994, after having been reelected seven times.

Death and interment

Reibman died in Allentown, Pennsylvania on March 11, 2006, and was interred at the Easton Cemetery in Easton, Pennsylvania.

Legacy

An administration building on the campus of East Stroudsburg University was named in her honor in 1972 and an early childhood learning center on the campus of Northampton Community College in 1992.