Linda Smith Dyer
| Linda Smith Dyer | |
|---|---|
Dyer in 1998
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| Born |
Linda Smith August 6, 1948 Lewiston, Maine |
| Died | September 27, 2001 (aged 53) |
| Cause of death | Cancer |
| Residence | Augusta, Maine |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | B.S. mathematics, University of Maine M.S. mathematics, University of Maine J.D., University of Maine (1980) |
| Occupation | Lawyer, lobbyist, women's rights activist |
| Years active | 1977–2001 |
| Spouse(s) | Isaac W. Dyer Charles Jacobs |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Clement and Mary Ellen Smith |
| Awards | Maine Women's Hall of Fame (2001) |
Linda Smith Dyer (August 6, 1948 – September 27, 2001) was an American lawyer, lobbyist, and women's rights activist. After a two-decade legal career, she entered public service as deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture. She co-founded the Maine Women's Lobby and was active in the effort to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in Maine. A member on numerous boards and committees, she was a past president of the Maine State Bar Association and the Family Planning Association of Maine. She was inducted into the Maine Women's Hall of Fame in 2001, a few months before her death.
Linda Smith was born in Lewiston, Maine to Clement and Mary Ellen Smith. She had two brothers and two sisters. She grew up on her family's dairy farm in Monmouth. After her mother's death in 1961, her father remarried.
She earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in mathematics from the University of Maine at Orono. In 1980 she earned her law degree from that university.
In 1979 she joined the law firm of Doyle and Nelson in Augusta. In 1981 she opened her own law practice in Augusta, which eventually became known as Dyer and Goodall. In the 1980s and 1990s she specialized in legislative advocacy, representing numerous groups including Tetra Pak Inc., a manufacture of juice boxes, ITW Hi-Cone, and dairy and milk companies.
In 1999 Dyer was named deputy commissioner of the Maine Department of Agriculture. During her tenure, she chaired the Northeast Dairy Compact.
In 1977 she was named presiding officer of the Maine State Meeting for Women, which elected 19 delegates, Dyer among them, to represent the state at the 1977 National Women's Conference. In 1978 Dyer co-founded the Maine Women's Lobby with Janet T. Mills and Lois Galgay Reckitt.
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