Betty Friedan

"The Feminine Mystique" is widely regarded as one of the most influential nonfiction books of the 20th century and made Ms. Friedan world famous. It also made her one of the chief architects of the women's liberation movement of the late 1960's and afterward. In 1966, Ms. Friedan helped found the National Organization for Women, serving as its first president. In 1969, she was a founder of the National Association for the Repeal of Abortion Laws, now known as Naral Pro-Choice America. With Gloria Steinem, Bella Abzug and others, she founded the National Women's Political Caucus in 1971. A brilliant student who graduated summa cum laude from Smith College in 1942, Ms. Friedan trained as a psychologist but never pursued a career in the field. Betty received her bachelor's degree in 1942 and accepted a fellowship to the University of California, Berkeley, for graduate work in psychology. In 1947, she married Carl Friedan, a theater director who later became an advertising executive. They started a family and moved to a rambling Victorian house in suburban Rockland County, N.Y. Ms. Friedan, whose marriage would end in divorce in 1969, is survived by their three children, Daniel Friedan of Princeton, N.J.; Emily Friedan of Buffalo; and Jonathan Friedan of Philadelphia; a brother, Harry Goldstein, of Palm Springs, Calif., and Purchase, N.Y.; a sister, Amy Adams, of Chapel Hill, N.C., and nine grandchildren.