Judith Porter, sociology professor emerita at Bryn Mawr College and social justice activist, has died at 84

Judith Porter, 84, of Ardmore, professor emerita and former chair of the Department of Sociology at Bryn Mawr College, social justice activist, innovative health pioneer, and tireless volunteer, died Monday, Oct. 21, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at a care facility in Haverford.

Many relatives of Dr. Porter were murdered during the Holocaust, so she understood the urgency of combating hatred and ignorance as she grew up in New Jersey. “You’ve got to face it, and you’ve got to do something about it,” she told her granddaughter Caroline a few years ago. “Even on a small individual way, it can make a difference.”

For Dr. Porter, that difference came when she marched for racial equality in the American South, demonstrated against apartheid in South Africa, visited refuseniks in the old Soviet Union, and educated thousands of students at Bryn Mawr. She joined the college as a lecturer in 1966, rose to professor in 1979, and served as chair of the sociology department from 1987 to 1993. She retired in 2006.

Dr. Porter created classes at Bryn Mawr that focused on the sociology of race and health. She offered the Sociology of AIDS and Sociology of Poverty, she told The Inquirer in 1991, because her students were also voters and volunteers, and she, through their actions, could affect public policy in health care, integration, and other social services.

“Sociology,” Dr. Porter said, “is not an ivory tower discipline.”

So students joined her as volunteer AIDS educators in underserved neighborhoods in North Philadelphia and voter registration organizers in Mississippi. One former student said in a tribute: “You pushed me out of my comfort zone. You set the academic bar high and believed that I could meet it.”

Dr. Porter helped establish a needle-exchange initiative in Philadelphia in the early 1990s and the Prevention Point Philadelphia addiction treatment organization. She was vice chair of the Mayor’s Commission on Addiction and Recovery. Her son Michael said: “She had a unique ability to see people and to make them feel seen. She didn’t just accept people for who they were but loved them for it.”

She reviewed candidates for the Princeton Prize in Race Relations, wrote dozens of research papers, and was quoted often in The Inquirer. Her 278-page book, Black Child, White Child: The Development of Racial Attitudes, was published in 1971, and it shared her research on the personality evolution of hundreds of children.

She earned awards for her work from the National Institute of Mental Health, grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and fellowships from the Ford Foundation and National Science Foundation. She was active with the American Sociological Association, American Civil Liberties Union, Women Against Abuse, Planned Parenthood, and many other organizations.

“She was spunky and energetic,” her daughter Rebecca said, “and fierce and unwavering in her beliefs.” A friend said in a tribute: “She thrived actively to unselfishly improve life in our society by strong personal involvement, not just passive theory. She was vibrantly alive.”

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Judith Deborah Revitch was born March 26, 1940, in Philadelphia. She was reared in Plainfield, N.J., and met Gerald Porter at a local swimming pool when she was a teenager. They married in 1960, had sons Daniel and Michael and daughter Rebecca, and lived in Ardmore for 57 years.

She earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in sociology at Cornell University, and a doctorate in sociology at Harvard University in 1967. She was adept at politics and served as a committeeperson for the Democratic Party in Haverford Township and an alternate delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

She protested against the government of Sudan in 2007 and took her children and grandchildren to demonstrations and neighborhood projects over the years. “We learned about standing up for what matters,” said her son Daniel.

“You never look down on people,” Dr. Porter told her granddaughter. “And a lot of times, you can help people look up.”

She enjoyed reading and baking, and was an avid traveler; she and her husband visited all 50 states and more than 70 countries. In 2010, they created the annual Gerald and Judith Porter Public Lecture for the American Mathematical Society and other groups.

Her family said: “She fought hard for the hopes and dreams of so many marginalized people, many of whom became her deepest, closest friends.” Her husband said: “We had a wonderful life together.”

In addition to her husband and children, Dr. Porter is survived by six grandchildren and other relatives.

Friends are invited to sit shiva with the family from 2 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26, and noon to 8 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 27, at 161 Whitemarsh Rd., Ardmore, Pa. 19003.

Donations in her name may be made to Prevention Point Philadelphia, Box 60990, Philadelphia, Pa. 19133; and Women Against Abuse, 100 S. Broad St., Suite 1341, Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.