Sybil Brand
Brand in 1986
Born
Sybil Morris[1]

May 8, c. 1899[lower-alpha 1]
Chicago, Illinois
Died (aged 104)[3][lower-alpha 2]
Beverly Hills, California
NationalityAmerican
Spouse(s)Gabriel B. Leavy (December 6, 1926–19??)[4]
​
​
(m. 1933; died 1989)​
[5][6]
Children1

Sybil Brand (née Morris; May 8, c. 1899 – February 17, 2004)[3][lower-alpha 1] was an American philanthropist and activist, best known locally for her work in improving jail conditions for women in Los Angeles. She was the namesake of the Sybil Brand Institute (SBI), a women's jail in Los Angeles County. SBI was closed after the 1994 Northridge earthquake.[1]

Early life

Sybil Morris was born in Chicago, Illinois[7] to Jewish immigrant parents Abraham "A.W." Morris (c. 1877–1951)[8] and Hattie Morris (c. 1883–1969)[9] sometime between 1899 and 1903, with some of her friends favoring the earliest year.[1][lower-alpha 1][10]

Her father, a stockbroker, relocated the family to Los Angeles when Sybil was two years old.[11] At age twelve, she began what would become a lifelong pursuit of charity and volunteering when she organized a diaper hemming program with the other girls in her class.[12] Brand would later recall being inspired by meeting a young triple amputee in a hospital at the insistence of her mother.[13]

Prison reform

Already well-known in charity circles, Brand was first named to the Public Welfare Commission in 1945 by then-Supervisor Leonard Roach. In the 1950s, Brand was serving on a commission that inspected hospitals and jails in Los Angeles County. The only commissioner to volunteer to inspect the jails, Brand was appalled at the conditions in which women were jailed. At the time, some 1800 women were being held in facilities designed to hold 1300, on the thirteenth floor of the Los Angeles Hall of Justice.

After this incident, Brand led a drive to build a new county jail for women. On January 29, 1963, Los Angeles County opened the Sybil Brand Institute, which was forced to close after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Budget shortfalls delayed its remodeling and reopening. Women prisoners most recently have been housed in the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in downtown Los Angeles.[7][14]

Personal life

In 1926, she married her first husband, Gabriel "Gabe" Leavy in Los Angeles; they had one son, George.[7] In 1933, she married her second husband, Harry Brand, who became head of publicity and advertising at 20th Century Fox.

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Sources conflict on Brand's year of birth. She had variously stated she was born in 1899 or between 1901 and 1903.[1] Brand's date of birth of record was May 8, 1902.[2]
  2. ↑ Based on Brand's recorded 1902 date of birth, she would have been 101 years old when she died.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 McLellan, Dennis; Oliver, Myrna (February 19, 2004). "Sybil Brand, 104; Fought for Jailed Women". The Los Angeles Times. p. B10. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  2. ↑ Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, Ancestry.com.
  3. 1 2 "Sybil Brand Commission". Los Angeles County. Retrieved September 5, 2014.
  4. ↑ "Wedding to be Event of March: Angeleno Will Marry Chicago Girl". The Los Angeles Times. January 23, 1927.
  5. ↑ "Publicity Man Takes Bride: Couple Fly to Nevada for Ceremony". The Los Angeles Times. July 1, 1933. p. A12.
  6. ↑ Folkart, Burt A. (February 23, 1989). "Last of Old-Time Hollywood Press Agents: Ex-Studio Publicist Harry Brand Dies". The Los Angeles Times. p. A1.
  7. 1 2 3 "Force Behind L.A. Women's Jail Still Going Strong at 80". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Vol. 127, no. 225. Associated Press. September 26, 1983. p. A5 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ "A. W. Morris Family Left $1,000,000". The Los Angeles Times. August 25, 1951. p. A1.
  9. ↑ "Services Held for Mother of Sybil Brand". The Los Angeles Times. September 11, 1969. p. C4.
  10. ↑ "Western States Jewish Historical Quarterly". 1974.
  11. ↑ 1997 Congressional Record, Vol. 143, Page E2189 (November 7, 1997).
  12. ↑ Baltad, Nancy (November 6, 1977). "Playgirl Image Rejected for Credo: 'Help Someone'". The Los Angeles Times. pp. WS1, WS7.
  13. ↑ Savoy, Maggie (February 16, 1969). "The Can-Do Lady Who Does It All". The Los Angeles Times. pp. D1, D13.
  14. ↑ Duncan, Bill (December 13, 1964). "Jail for Women: A Tribute to Sybil Brand". The Independent Press-Telegram. Vol. 13, no. 16. Long Beach, California. p. 33 – via Newspapers.com.
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