Esther Hymer; Peace Activist, Feminist Served at U.N.

Esther Hymer, 102, an early peace activist and feminist who was active in the United Nations from its inception in 1945, died April 4 at her home in Shrewsbury, N.J.

Hymer, born in Chicago, was a student at the University of Wisconsin in 1920 when she marched for ratification of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.

She became an aide to Margaret Hickey, who represented the National Federation of Business and Professional Women’s Organizations at the 1945 conference in San Francisco that established the United Nations.

Later, Hymer was the federation’s director of international relations and served as a nongovernmental representative to the U.N. for six decades, focusing on women’s issues.

She amassed thousands of papers documenting the U.N.’s efforts on behalf of women, which she donated in 1997 to the library of the Women’s Division of the United Methodist Church’s General Board in New York.