Dorothy von Beroldingen

Dorothy von Beroldingen (1915 – 1999) was an American lawyer, judge, and political figure. She served for 11 years on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and 22 terms as a San Francisco municipal court and San Francisco County Superior Court judge. A significant figure in San Francisco history, "von Beroldingen fought for more than six decades for equal rights and the advancement of women -- both in private industry and public service. In her capacities as an advertising executive, legal scholar, private attorney, city commissioner, city supervisor, and as the city's senior trial court judge, she achieved a long list of significant 'firsts' for women." Early ife Von Beroldingen was born on February 12, 1915, in Chicago. She attended the University of San Francisco School of Law and graduated from San Francisco Law School cum laude in 1954. She passed the bar examination in 1955, when there were only 11 women on the list of more than 4,000. Career Von Beroldingen has a successful career as a lawyer before entering politics. She was appointed to the San Francisco Civil Service Commission in the early 1960s, where she contributed to ending discrimination in city hiring and promotion of women and gays. Von Beroldingen served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 1966 to 1977. Originally appointed by Mayor John Shelley, she was subsequently elected three times; she was the third woman ever to serve as a member of the board and the first woman to chair its Finance and Budget Committee. Von Beroldingen was the first woman appointed to the Board of the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District and was instrumental to the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Woman, an anti-workplace gender discrimination agency. In the early 1970s, Von Beroldingen was "the city's first elected official to envision and actively champion a bold concept for using underdeveloped land in the South of Market area to stimulate local economy, create affordable housing and increase jobs," a vision which later became the Mission Bay project.