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NASW Foundation National
Programs
NASW Social Work Pioneers®
Esther Glasser (1916 - 2008)
A central characteristic of Esther Glasser’s outstanding
professional career was her ability to find new applications of social work values
and knowledge in many different areas: as a practitioner in family services, child
protection, adolescent counseling and school social work programs; as a board member of
mental health organizations, as the organizer of a national conference on school social
work and as a member of citizen’s advisory councils. A recent example is the acclaim
which she had received for her work as Chairperson of the Education Taskforce of the Women’s
National Democratic Club in which she brought to the Club a number of outstanding
speakers to discuss current problems of public education and of adolescents in our society
and to highlight the need for national policies and programs to solve these problems.
Mrs. Glasser received her MSW in 1939 from the New York School of Social Work after her
graduation, cum laude, from Hunter College in 1937. She has taken postgraduate work at
Brandeis University, Wayne State University, and American University. She was a charter
member of NASW and had been a member of the NASW Practice Advancement Council on Social
Work Services in Schools (1983-88).
Esther Glasser’s marriage to Melvin Glasser was a rare example of how two
dedicated social workers supported and enhanced each other’s careers, and at the
same time, created and sustained a warm and loving family. This pioneer social work couple
had three children and there are now eight grandchildren.
Social Work Pioneer – 1996 |
