THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Shepard “Shep” Aronson, MD

May 1, 1913 – November 10, 2003

“I have been both kidded and encouraged for my work in NOW. The main thing is that men who tease me usually just don’t understand what women’s liberation is. Their understanding dawns when you ask them if they’d like to see their competent wives or talented daughters paid lower wages simply because they’re women. They start to come around when I ask that.”

A leader in medical and feminist circles who brought the two worlds together for historic results. Charter member of National Organization for Women (NOW) and attended the founding conference in Washington, D.C., 1966, with his wife Muriel Fox. The first Chair of the Board of the New York chapter of NOW, the first local chapter in the country, 1968. Served on the Medical Advisory Committee of Planned Parenthood of New York. President of the Society of Internal Medicine of the County of New York. Organized a meeting in the New York Medical Society to improve doctors’ attitudes toward nurses and a meeting to improve doctors’ attitudes toward female patients. He persuaded Pan Am Airlines to revise its policy requiring flight attendants to weigh less than a certain weight. He had a contract from Pan Am to do entrance physicals. He told the airline their weight restrictions were mistaken, and refused to follow that requirement.

Photo. Muriel Fox and Shep Aronson.