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Dorothy Kemp Roosevelt, 86, Michigan Political Contender

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From Times Wire Services

Dorothy Kemp Roosevelt, a sister-in-law of Eleanor Roosevelt and the first woman ever to win a Democratic congressional primary in Michigan, died Sunday in her suburban Detroit home, family members said. She was 86.

Mrs. Roosevelt was married to the late G. Hall Roosevelt, a Detroit banker and brother of Eleanor Roosevelt and nephew of Theodore Roosevelt. They were divorced in 1937.

In 1942, she became the first woman to win a Democratic congressional primary in the state but was defeated overwhelmingly in her mainly Republican 17th District.

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After the election, Victor Reuther, brother of United Auto Workers leader Walter Reuther, asked her to serve with the War Production Board in Detroit as a specialist on women’s problems in war industries.

Mrs. Roosevelt also was an accomplished pianist and performed often in recital at the White House during the Roosevelt years.

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