Equal Rights Advocates Remembers the Extraordinary Drucilla Stender Ramey

August 26. 2026
Noreen Farrell, Executive Director

Equal Rights Advocates deeply mourns the passing of our cherished friend and ERA Board Chair Emerita Drucilla Stender Ramey

In the days that followed the passing of the marvelous Dru Ramey, I exchanged some descriptors of Dru with friends in the Equal Rights Advocates community who love her so much. One in a million. One in a trillion. We finally landed on “One out of One”. In the end, we agreed there simply was only one Dru Ramey, the likes of which we may never know again but will hold in our hearts forever.

Dru’s journey as a civil rights lawyer and leader within the legal profession is the stuff of legends. A graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School, Dru began her career as a civil rights litigator with the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, where she worked on school desegregation cases. She later served as the longtime Executive Director and General Counsel of the Bar Association of San Francisco, helping establish initiatives including the California Minority Counsel Program and the San Francisco School-to-College Program. She also served as the first woman Board Chair at ACLU Northern California, Executive Director of the National Association of Women Judges, Dean of Golden Gate University School of Law, and most recently on the Public Advocates Board of Directors.

“Dru’s journey as a civil rights lawyer and leader within the legal profession is the stuff of legends.”

Dru was the fiercest of feminists, so it was inevitable that her road would lead to Equal Rights Advocates. She was, after all, the daughter of Estelle R. Ramey. Dr. Ramey was an endocrinologist, physiologist and feminist who came to national prominence in 1970 after she famously rebutted a Democratic leader who pronounced women unfit for important jobs because of the “raging hormonal influences” to which they were supposedly subject. Equal Rights Advocates recognized Dr. Ramey in 1992, inviting her to be the annual luncheon speaker. Dru introduced her mother in colorful fashion, the first of many times that Dru would light up the stage of ERA events.

Dru not only honored her mother’s legacy and broke new barriers with her work.She co-founded California Women Lawyers and chaired the San Francisco Commission on the Status of Women. And in 1997, Dru received one of the highest honors of the legal profession when she was awarded the Margaret Brent Award by the ABA Commission on Women in the Profession.

Dru became Chair of Equal Rights Advocates’ Board of Directors in 2017. I knew Dru and her fabulous spouse Marvin Stender for decades as stand-out progressives through the National Lawyers Guild. I had worked alongside their daughter Jessica Stender (now ERA’s Policy Director & Deputy Legal Director) in a case challening sexual assault of casino employees.

“Barely a week of her life passed without Dru sitting down for tea or lunch with someone seeking her mentorship and advice. She generously shared connections and networks and the inside scoop that could make (or break) careers.”

Dru, not surprisingly to anyone who knew her, befriended and mentored me and many ERA leaders before and after becoming Board Chair. These include ERA co-founder Nancy Davis, with whom she took the California Bar exam and served beside on the Board of the ACLU of Northern California. ERA leaders Beth Parker (General Counsel of Planned Parenthood California Central Coast) and Gay Grunfeld (Managing Partner at Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP) hailed Dru as a feminist icon, mentor, and decades-long friend for decades. As Gay recalled: “Dru led the way on ending discriminatory clubs, increasing childcare for working women and for litigants in court, diversifying the legal profession and enforcing the civil rights of all. It is hard to imagine life as a San Francisco woman lawyer without Dru.”

While Board Chair, Dru helped lead ERA through extraordinary growth and change. She brought to Equal Rights Advocates her deep and meaningful relationships with lawyers across nearly every sector. These relationships continue to power the work of ERA today, with our Board and Committees stacked with generations of lawyers inspired by Dru Ramey personally and professionally. Dru continued to offer ERA her care and smart insights in various other roles after leaving the Board, including as my close personal friend.

“She brought to Equal Rights Advocates her deep and meaningful relationships with lawyers across nearly every sector. These relationships continue to power the work of ERA today.”

In 2021, ERA announced its inaugural annual Ramey Gender Justice Award, honoring advocates and partners serving ERA’s mission at the highest level. The award’s name is a tribute to Dru, her mother Estelle, and daughter Jessica — three generations of Ramey women dedicated to changing the rules for women in law and across all industries. ERA Ramey Gender Justice honorees include Elizabeth Cabraser (founding partner of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP), Kristen Galles (national Title IX champion), student leaders like Caty Lynch, Charlotte Burrows (former Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission), and Catharine Llamon (Executive Director of UC Berkeley Edley Center on Law and Democracy and former chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights).

Dru’s contributions to the legal profession and Equal Rights Advocates are parallelled only by her contributions to humankind, with an emphasis on kind. Barely a week of her life passed without Dru sitting down for tea or lunch with someone seeking her mentorship and advice. She generously shared connections and networks and the inside scoop that could make (or break) careers. She remembered every birthday and gifted chocolates to ERA staff each Valentine’s Day. She rented vans to move acquaintances harmed by domestic violence. She raised millions of dollars for justice nonprofits. She showed up for friends and strangers alike, with incredible humor, discretion, and commitment.

“Dru’s contributions to the legal profession and Equal Rights Advocates are paralleled only by her contributions to humankind, with an emphasis on kind.”

Dru Ramey was unflinchingly reliable, and thousands could count on her. She brought light wherever she went, including through her well-documented fashion pizazz. Whether marching in the streets, leading a board meeting, cuddling her grandson, or presenting and receiving prestigious awards, Dru sparkled, from the inside out.

All of us will hold that sparkle close through the rest of our careers and lives.

Dru was a unicorn, a movement pioneer, and treasured friend and family leader. We love her and miss her and will continue to honor her, including through our 2027 Ramey Gender Justice Award. Our deep condolences to her daughter Jessica Ramey Stender, her chosen sister Ronnie Caplane, and her wide circle of friends and loved ones.

Per Dru’s family’s wishes, if you’re moved to give ERA in her honor, please do so here.