Philadelphia Bar Association Chancellor Katayun I. Jaffari issued the following statement in memory of Professor Emerita Marina Angel, a member of the faculty of Temple’s Beasley School of Law since 1978, who died on February 1.
A distinguished teacher and researcher in the area of women’s rights, Professor Angel was the 1996 recipient of the Bar Association’s Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Award. The award is given annually by the Women in the Profession Committee to a Philadelphia judge or attorney who exemplify O’Connor’s life and work by openly and visibly using their position and stature in the community to mentor, promote and advance other women lawyers. In 2004, Professor Angel received the American Bar Association’s Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award. In 2016, she received the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of American Law Schools.
”We were saddened to hear of the death of Professor Angel, a groundbreaking researcher and valued teacher and mentor to generations of Temple law students. Her work in the areas of gender equality, sexual harassment and the status of women in the law has had a significant and far-reaching impact,” Jaffari said. “Professor Angel had the courage to study and bring into the light issues that, at the time, were not discussed in public, including sexual harassment by judges and the criminal justice system’s response to abuse and violence against women and girls. Her research sparked critical conversations and led to necessary policy changes.”
“When Professor Angel accepted our Association’s Sandra Day O’Connor Award in 1996, she noted that ‘for most women it’s not discrimination based on gender, or race, or ethnicity, or age, or sexual orientation. Those aren’t “ors” they’re “ands.”’ Professor Angel’s advocacy weakened those barriers, inspiring us all as we continue the fight for equal participation in the profession and equality within the justice system.”
