She was born in Portland to Jewish immigrants and grew up in northeast Portland,[3] at the poor end of lower middle class.[4]
She attended Grant High School and the Northwestern School of Business. She was one of the first women to study law, and graduated from Northwestern College of Law (at Lewis & Clark College) in 1939 and qualified for the Oregon Bar. She worked as a lawyer until her appointment to the Portland City Council.[3] She took office on the council on December 29, 1972.[5]
In 1971, Portland still had two lunch spots closed to women. Schwab organized a sit-in at Perkins' Pub (in the basement of Lipman-Wolfe), which succeeded in opening the establishment to women. She also was part of a small group (also including Gretchen Kafoury) who opened City Club of Portland to women. She was the first woman nominated to be a Portland Rose Festival ambassador (or Royal Rosarian), though she declined the honor.[3]
Part of her time as city commissioner was in charge of the police and fire departments—Portland's equivalent of police commissioner[3]—for which she received great support.[4]
^ abcd"Mildred Schwab". Bureau of Human Resources, City of Portland. March 26, 2007. Archived from the original on June 9, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2012.
