Frances Wasserlein

Frances Wasserlein

Frances Wasserlein (b. July 31, 1946 San Francisco – August 23, 2015 Halfmoon Bay)^[1] was a Canadian-American arts community manager and a LGBTQ rights activist living in Canada. She was executive producer of Vancouver Folk Music Festival and box office manager of other festivals and centers in the Vancouver area.^[2][3] She was a board member of a British Columbia Arts Council predecessor from 1996 to 2002.^[3]

Life

Wasserlein was born in San Francisco but brought up in Vancouver in Canada.^[4]

She received a BA in history from University of British Columbia in 1980, after which she received a Master of Arts in history at Simon Fraser University.^[2]

In 1970 she led the Abortion Caravan from Vancouver to Ottawa, and in 1982 she co-founded Women Against Violence Against Women (WAVAW/Rape Relief).^[3]

She moved to Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia after marrying Marguerite Kotwitz in 2003. There, she was executive director of Sunshine Coast Community Arts Council from 2008 to 2013 and taught cultural event management at Capilano College.^[2]

She died at home in Halfmoon Bay, British Columbia on August 23, 2015.^[2]

References

1. Tom Hawthorn (August 26, 2015), "B.C. activist Frances Wasserlein refused to be silenced", The Globe and Mail, Toronto, archived from the original on 2017-04-07
2. Kevin Dale McKeown (August 26, 2015), "Arts and human-rights advocate Frances Wasserlein dies", The Georgia Straight, Vancouver, archived from the original on June 1, 2016, retrieved December 19, 2019
3. "B.C. social activist Frances Wasserlein dies", The Vancouver Sun, August 26, 2015, archived from the original on 2018-04-26
4. "Honouring Frances Wasserlein on International Women's Day 2016 | BWSS". BWSS. 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2018-06-01.

Further reading

• Johnston, H. (2009). Radical Campus: Making Simon Fraser University. D & M Publishers. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-926706-30-6.
• Smith, M.C. (1999). Lesbian and Gay Rights in Canada: Social Movements and Equality-seeking, 1971-1995. University of Toronto Press. p. 33. ISBN 978-0-8020-8197-1.