Ricky Silberman

Rosalie "Ricky" Silberman (née Gaull; March 31, 1937 – February 18, 2007) was an American conservative activist who, with Barbara Olson and others, co-founded the Independent Women's Forum. Biography Born as Rosalie Gaull in Jackson, Michigan, she studied government studies, graduating with honors from Smith College in 1958. She met her husband-to-be, future federal Judge Laurence H. Silberman, in 1955 during summer school at Harvard University. Career Silberman raised three children while the family lived in Hawaii during the 1960s, but she also worked as a teacher in suburban Washington before getting involved in politics and public affairs. President Richard Nixon appointed her to the Presidential Commission for the Education of Disadvantaged Children, and she worked as a press secretary for U.S. Sen. Robert Packwood (R-Oregon). When the Silbermans moved to San Francisco in 1979, she did development work for the San Francisco Conservatory. In 1984, President Ronald Reagan appointed her to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), where she served until 1995, rising to the positions of vice-chair and commissioner.