About Susan Schechter
Creating a world where violence no longer devastates the lives of women and children around the world was Susan Schechter's dream. She brought vision, compassion and searing intellect to the pursuit of that dream, and was among the first to seed what has become a worldwide movement to end violence.
Susan Schechter, one of the most accomplished and respected leaders in the domestic violence prevention movement, died in February of 2004 of endometrial cancer. While she is missed by so many, her enormous contribution is vibrant and very much alive.
Schechter wrote two books that helped shape the battered women's movement in this country: Women and Male Violence: The Visions and Struggles of the Battered Women's Movement published in 1982, and When Love Goes Wrong co-authored with Ann Jones in 1992. Schechter published widely and was in great demand as a speaker. She won the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators Award for Leadership in Public Child Welfare in 2003, among many other honors.
Schechter was one of the first in the country to tackle the intersection between child abuse and domestic violence. Her extraordinary vision led to the creation of Advocacy for Women and Kids in Emergencies (AWAKE) at Children's Hospital in Boston; the first domestic violence program to systematically address the issue of child abuse. She was a Clinical Professor at the University of Iowa School of Social Work, served on the National Advisory Council on Violence Against Women, and received the University of Iowa Distinguished Achievement Award of the Committee on the Celebration of Excellence Among Women.
In the later years of her remarkable life, Susan's specialty was exploring the ways that domestic violence affects children. She worked to educate others about the ways the public child welfare system is failing battered women and their children. She was a primary architect of the Family Violence Prevention Fund's child welfare programming, building bridges between the domestic violence and child protection fields, and wrote numerous publications that offered guidance to the domestic violence and child abuse communities. Schechter co-authored Effective Intervention in Domestic Violence & Child Maltreatment Cases: Guidelines for Policy and Practice, another groundbreaking initiative popularly known as the "Greenbook," published by the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges (NCJFCJ).
Susan Schechter was born and raised in Missouri, lived in Chicago, New York and Boston, and for the last ten years in Iowa where she died. She is survived by her husband, Allen Steinberg, and their son Zachary. Susan Schechter lives on forever as an impassioned thinker, a national leader, an admired colleague, and a friend to so many. She also lives on through the Susan Schechter Leadership Development Fellowship which honors her achievements, and extends the spirit of her inspiring life.
