When first entering San Mateo County’s male dominated political scene in the 1960s, Ruth Nagler, an activist and family woman, was undeterred, advocating for women’s voices and paving the way for her female counterparts to claim their place on governing bodies.
“What she really tried to do was figure out how she could use her position at the time to help enable women who really wanted to step forward and be leaders,” Nagler’s son, David Nagler said. “She was always looking to do whatever small thing she could do to help move women along.”
Ruth Nagler passed away peacefully at her home on July 12 at the age of 99.
She was born in Brooklyn, New York, on May 21, 1922, and spent her first 26 years of life on the East Coast where she earned a Bachelor’s degree from the College of New York and a Masters of Arts in education from New York University.
Soon after completing her academic career, Ruth Nagler made her way to San Mateo County with her husband, Edmund, where she spent the next 70 years of her life raising her two sons, Mike Nagler and David Nagler and dedicating her time to various boards and commissions.
For 10 years, Ruth Nagler served as a member of the San Mateo County Elementary School Board, where she helped guide one of the earliest school desegregation programs in the state. She sat on the San Mateo City Library Board, the Mills-Peninsula Hospital Board, the Human Investment Project of San Mateo County, the Women’s Center of San Mateo County and the San Mateo Performing Arts Center Board.
Professionally, Ruth Nagler was the director of community education at Cañada College starting in 1968 until 1980 when she held the same role at the San Mateo Community College District until 1988.
“I was completely proud of her and totally proud of being her kid,” David Nagler said.
Ruth Nagler will be remembered as many things but most commonly as a trailblazer. To her sons, she was simply mom — not necessarily cuddly or warm but always a shoulder to lean on, David Nagler said.
Her long 99-year life ensured she guided her boys through adulthood, “depositing” her sons “on the shores of old age,” Mike Nagler said.
She was lively and known for throwing parties, well stocked with food and drinks of all sorts, including her drink of choice, Johnnie Walker Red Label which she’d drink with ice or a little water up until her final days.
Mike Nagler said being around his mother and her peers was like “hanging out in an exciting democratic possibility,” an experience that would shape her sons into confident and service oriented men.
“She was an icon and I think she befriended other men and women who felt the same about this place she called home,” Mike Naglar said.
Among those friends was former state Sen. Jerry Hill who described Ruth Nagler as a “persistent advocate for justice.” The duo met in the ’90s when Hill was first launching his campaign for San Mateo City Council.
Her strong voice made her someone “you needed to meet,” Hill said, noting power behind her support for candidates seeking public office at the time.
“Ruth was a person that you had to know,” Hill said. “Her voice was reflective of a large constituency, for very bright community-minded citizens, so I got to know her.”
Ruth Nagler was sharp and unabashedly honest, Hill said. The two’s friendship was filled with laughter and stimulating conventions with the occasional unsolicited advice and her humor will be missed, he said.
Friendship was coupled with mentorship in her relationships with then rising political stars and now U.S. Reps. Anna Eshoo, D-Palo Alto; and Jackie Speier, D-San Mateo.
Eshoo entered Nagler’s sphere when running for a seat on the San Mateo Community College Board in 1977. She lost that race but gained an ally. With Nagler’s guidance and support, Eshoo would go on to serve on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors for a decade before spending another three decades in Congress.
“She helped shape me and there are really only a handful of people you can say that about in one’s life. I was really the beneficiary of an incredibly talented, committed person,” Eshoo said.
Sharing space with Eshoo on the Board of Supervisors was fellow Congresswoman Speier, who also benefited from Nagler’s encouragement. Once on the board, the women helped develop the Commission on the Statues of Women, a previously thwarted vision of Nagler’s to bring women’s needs into focus and before supervisors.
Speier described Nagler as having “a firmness and a gentleness,” matched with a great sense of humor. She was the type of woman to meet you with exuberant excitement, a welcome last shared with Speier and Eshoo on an unprompted call to Nagler some time ago.
“She helped create an environment where women like Anna and I were able to get elected and make a difference,” Speier said. “[Nagler] gave some wings to many women and young people in this county, gave them hope and inspiration and drew a road map to succeed.”
But ultimately, Speier said she’ll remember Nagler as a fearless 80-year-old woman sitting in the driver’s seat of a red sports car with the top down.
“That epitomizes who she was,” Speier said.
Supervisor Carole Groom was also taken under Nagler’s wing when Groom eyed a seat on the San Mateo City Council. Flanked by members of a campaign steering committee organized with Nagler’s support, the group discussed money and endorsements.
Beyond campaign support, though, Nagler was a point person for Groom when she faced difficult dilemmas. With her passing, Groom said she feels as though she and the community have lost a best friend.
“She really believed in being a part of the community in which she lived,” Groom said. “Her words will always be in my head. She was very special.”
To Sue Lempert, former San Mateo Mayor, Nagler was a no-fuss professional. Lempert credits Nagler with her entry into politics which started with convincing Lempert to join San Mateo County’s chapter of the League of Women Voters.
Lempert would later fill Nagler’s seat on the San Mateo Elementary School Board of Trustees, a position she would hold for 10 years like Nagler. Lempert was also Nagler’s successor as the President of the League of Women Voters.
“[The League] was where the action was for women,” Lempert said. “She was a superb leader and she was an inspiration to many women. She certainly was for me.”
Those who knew Nagler also lauded her for her efforts during the desegregation of schools which nearly resulted in her losing her seat on the school board, Lempert recalled. Grudges from that fight would later cost Nagler her seat on the San Mateo City Library Board, she said.
Still, integration occurred with family friends of Nagler agreeing to bus their children across districts, Lempert said. The realities of then are a far cry from today, a time in which thousands of diverse community members marched in support of Black lives and against police brutality a summer ago.
“The movement that took place across the country was all implemented locally on the ground and she was so key to that role,” Eshoo said. “Her values were deeply rooted. They were not shaped by events, she helped shape them.”
Nagler was predeceased by her husband Edmund Nagler and is survived by her sons, Michael and David Nagler, their wives Tracy and JoAnneh, and her grandchildren, Drue, Julian, Sean, Mariel and Eric.
Donations made in Ruth Nagler’s name may go to the American Civil Liberties Union or the League of Women Voters, at her request. Private funeral services will be held among the family with a celebration of Ruth Nagler’s life following soon after.
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