Smulekoff heir Joan Lipsky remembered as ‘trailblazer’

Joan Lipsky, a former Iowa lawmaker, retired Cedar Rapids attorney and heir to the Smulekoff's furniture business, is being remembered for her achievements and community involvement.

Lipsky, 96, died Tuesday in Cedar Rapids surrounded by her family.

'I would refer to Joan as a trailblazer,” said Jack Evans, president of the Hall-Perrine Foundation and a fellow life trustee of Coe College in Cedar Rapids.

'She has a strong commitment to public and private higher education in Iowa. As an author of the Iowa Tuition Grant legislation in 1969, over 14,000 recipients last year were able to attend private colleges in the state.”

Evans said Lipsky, whom he knew through their service as Coe trustees, 'really knew how to have fun. She had a wicked but delightful sense of humor.”

Joan Miller Lipsky was born in 1919 in Cedar Rapids to John and Ruth Miller. Her maternal grandfather, Henry Smulekoff, bought a small store on May's Island in 1890 and founded Smulekoff's Furniture, which operated in Cedar Rapids for 125 years until it closed in December 2014.

Lipsky earned a bachelor of science degree in psychology from Northwestern University in 1940 and attended graduate school at the State University of Iowa (now the University of Iowa), where she studied clinical psychology in 1940 and 1941.

Lipsky married Abbott Lipsky in 1941, who was working as a cryptanalyst for the Signal Intelligence Service. She worked as a clinical psychologist at the University of Chicago Hospitals until 1942.

After the war, Joan and Abbott Lipsky moved to Cedar Rapids, where they raised three children, John, Ann, and Abbott Jr. From 1945 until 2008, Abbott Lipsky served as president of Smulekoff's Furniture.

Joan became active in community service and organizations. She chaired the Mayor's Commission on Housing, the Mayor's Commission on Alcoholism, and the Employment Security Advisory Council.

In November 1966, Lipsky became the first woman elected to represent Linn County in the Iowa General Assembly. She served six terms in the General Assembly from 1967 to 1978, including a stint as assistant minority leader.

Lipsky's background in clinical psychology shaped her interests in the state legislature. She led efforts to improve Iowa's institutions for the mentally disabled and increase funding for special education programs in public schools.

'Joan Lipsky was a dear friend and tremendous voice for Cedar Rapids and Linn County at the State Capitol during her tenure in the Iowa House of Representatives and beyond,” Gov. Terry Branstad said Wednesday.

'I'll remember Joan for her commitment to advancing causes related to equality for all, especially the mentally handicapped and those facing mental health challenges, and the promotion of social and economic equality for women.

'With Joan's passing, Iowa has lost a dedicated public servant. She will be deeply missed.”

Iowa Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, said Lipsky was a 'progressive Republican” who should be a model for new legislators.

'She was an all around great state legislator who took the concerns of her constituents very seriously,” Kibbie said. 'She wanted to work with both sides of the aisle to get things done. There's not much of that today.

'She left her mark on the state of Iowa, which was a positive one.”

Colleagues on both sides of the political aisle had positive memories of working with Lipsky,

'We used to have funeral home hearses as ambulances,” recalled State Sen. Wally Horn, D-Cedar Rapids. 'Joan got the law passed that gave

us the ambulances we have today and the money set aside at various levels.

'She was great in a lot of things like that, understood the issues, and did a great job. I really appreciated serving with her.”

Lipsky also served as a longtime trustee and a director of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, and was a trustee of St. Luke's Hospital.

'Joan was indeed a remarkable woman,” said Sean Ulmer, CRMA executive director. 'She had a real passion for the arts, which was evident

in her 40-year involvement with the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art.

'Her importance to the development of the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art cannot be underestimated. The loss to this community, and to the

CRMA, is a significant one and I, for one, have lost a confidant and valued sounding board.”

During her final term in office, Lipsky began to attend law school at the UI. After graduating with a juris doctorate in 1980, Lipsky

joined the Cedar Rapids law firm of Shuttleworth & Ingersoll.

In 1986, Lipsky ran on the Republican Party ticket for lieutenant governor. Gov. Terry Branstad was re-elected, but Lipsky lost her bid

when Jo Ann Zimmerman, a Democrat, was elected lieutenant governor. (It was the last election when candidates for governor and lieutenant

governor ran separately in Iowa.)

Lipsky was a member of the Cedar Rapids Woman's Club, the American Association of University Women, Altrusa, Delta Kappa Gamma, Hadassah,

and Sisterhood of Temple Judah. She was a founding member of the Cedar Rapids Women's Caucus, which later became the Cedar Rapids chapter

of the National Organization for Women.

Abbott Lipsky died in May 2008. His daughter, Ann, succeeded him as president of Smulekoff's.