Felicia Shpritzer; Fought Gender Bias in NYPD

Felicia Shpritzer, 87, a police lieutenant whose lawsuit enabled women to climb the ranks and achieve equal opportunity within the New York Police Department. A native of New York City, Shpritzer joined the NYPD in 1942, during an era in which female officers primarily performed typing duties or guarded female prisoners. In 1961 she grew fed up with the situation and sued to allow women the right to take the sergeant’s exam. “There were about 300 women officers then,” she recalled some years ago. “And 22 of the women gave from $5 to $25 to help with the lawsuit, and I paid the rest myself.” After winning the suit, she took the sergeant’s exam in 1964 and rose to the rank of lieutenant. She retired in 1976. On Wednesday in New York City of kidney failure.