Dorothy Eisenberg Papers (MS-00528)

Activist and volunteer Dorothy Eisenberg (née Adler; 1928- ) has been a dedicated member of the Las Vegas, Nevada community since 1964. As a member of the League of Women Voters since 1965, and League President from 1971 to 1973, Eisenberg helped to pass environmental legislation and to desegregate the Clark County School District, in spite of threats made to her and her family. Eisenberg has served on many committees related to improving education and community services, working with the Clark County School District, local government, and organizations such as the United Way of Southern Nevada. An active member of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas for many years, Eisenberg was elected as the first woman president of the organization in 1979, and laid the groundwork for many projects in the Jewish community. She formed the Silver State PAC in 1987 to back federal candidates who were supportive of Israel, and was appointed County Commissioner for the short-lived Bullfrog County in 1988. In 1991, the Dorothy Eisenberg Elementary School was named in recognition of her many significant contributions to the community and in 1996 she was elected to the Excellence in Education Hall of Fame.

Eisenberg was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1928, and moved to Philadelphia while she was a child. After graduating high school in 1946, she married businessman Ralph Weinstein in 1948 and had four daughters. Weinstein passed away in an airplane crash in 1960. After his death, Eisenberg earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from Temple University in 1964. While she was in school she met her second husband, certified public accountant Paul Eisenberg, with whom she had another daughter. The family moved to Las Vegas in 1964. Dorothy took classes at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas to update her teaching certificate and began her long career in civic affairs.

In 1973 Eisenberg became project director of the Citizens Governmental Forum, which led to her position as vice-chair of the Citizens Committee on Consolidation. In 1974 she was appointed to the Local Governmental Employee Management Board (EMRB) by Governor O'Callaghan, and was voted its chair in 1977. Eisenberg took labor law classes in Washington, D.C. and traveled around Nevada to arbitrate cases between local government and state employees. During the 1990s, Eisenberg served on the Superintendent’s Education Opportunities Committee to update the Clark County School District (CCSD) Master Plan and Desegregation Plan, and as Vice-President of the Clark County Public Education Foundation to raise private funds for schools. She also worked on the Strategic Plan 2000 for the CCSD and helped to pass three school bond issues as a member of the School Growth Committee. Eisenberg was honored by the Public Education Foundation Board in 2014 and remains active in the Las Vegas community.

Sources:

“Dorothy Eisenberg Biography.” Women’s Research Institute of Nevada, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Accessed February 2, 2015. http://wrinunlv.org/research/our-history-profiles-of-nevada-women/dorothy-eisenberg/.

Eisenberg, Dorothy. Dorothy Eisenberg: an oral history conducted by Caryll Batt Dziedziak. Las Vegas: Women’s Research Institute of Nevada, Las Vegas Women Oral History Project, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, 2007.