Jane Eskind Papers

Jane Eskind (1933-2016), daughter of Samuel and Doni Greenebaum, was born on 18 May 1933 in Louisville, Kentucky. She attended Brandeis University, married Richard Eskind, completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Louisville, and settled in Nashville in 1956. She was a lobbyist for the League of Women Voters from 1964 to 1969, represented Tennessee on the Democratic National Platform Committees in 1972 and 1976, and chaired the Tennessee Commission on the Status of Women from 1978 to 1980. In 1978, Eskind made her first bid for public office when she ran for the U.S. Senate. Although she did not win that election, she became the first woman to win the Democratic or Republican nomination for statewide office. In 1980, Eskind was elected to the Public Service Commission, becoming the first woman to win a statewide election in Tennessee. Eskind ran for Governor in 1986, but ultimately lost to Ned McWherter. The following year, she ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives but did not win. She served as a trustee of Brandeis University, the Anti-Defamation League, the International Woman’s Forum, and the Vice President’s Residence Foundation. Eskind was a charter member of the Women Executives in State Government and supported many initiatives such as the Women’s Fund, Tennessee Tomorrow, Nashville READ, Nashville CARES, the Legal Aid Society, the Nashville Institute for the Arts, the League of Women Voters, the Kelly Miller Smith Institute on African American Church Studies, the ACLU, National Political Caucus, and New Leadership South among others. Eskind died in Nashville, Tennessee on 4 August 2016.