Jan Loeb Eisler

From Philosopedia

Jan Loeb Eisler inaugurates the Third International Rationalist Conference in New Delhi, 2003

Jan Loeb Eisler (4 January 1933 - )

In an autobiographical letter in 2009, Jan Eisler provided the following:

Jan Loeb Eisler was born in Chicago in 1933. Her father, an atheist immigrant from Germany was an inventor. Her mother - a secretary, homemaker, and an avowed agnostic whose last words were ‘no church, no church’ - was born in Ukraine. The family moved to Hollywood, Florida, about 1945. Jan moved to Pinellas County in the late 1950s.

In 1949, she was a member of the first class that admitted women to the University of Florida. She earned Ms.N., R.N. Her CCRN accreditation preceded her Bs.N. She is a member of Sigma Theta Tau, the international nursing honor society. She taught Advanced Trauma Life Support, Advanced Cardiac Support, and electrocardiography to physicians.

In 1950, she joined the NAACP to help counter the civil oppression of the era, and she participated in the civil rights marches.

Eisler has been an activist Humanist. She . . .

• founded and presided over the St. Petersburg Largo Area Secular Humanists (SPLASH) and edited and published its newsletter for more than a decade;
• was founder of the Center for Inquiry Florida;
• was Vice President of the London-based International Humanist and Ethical Union;
• was also active in and held offices in Center for Inquiry Transnational, Council for Secular Humanism, Florida Secular Humanist Societies, and Tampa Bay Skeptics;
• was a three-term vice president of Humanists of Florida; was on the national board and executive committee of the American Humanist Association;
• was on the board of directors for the Center for Inquiry;
• was editor for seven years of Family Matters, a national quarterly;
• was on the advisory board for several national publications: Common Sense, Scientific Review of Alternative Medicine, and others.
• was a credentialed United Nation NGO representative for IHEU;
• was a long-time women’s clinic escort; an active member of NOW, NARAL, and Planned Parenthood. * was a Secular Celebrant and Secular Weddings consultant;
• was a graduate of the Humanist Institute;
• was an honorary lifetime member of First Coast Freethought Society, Jacksonville, Florida; and the Rationalist International Society, Mumbai (New Delhi) India;
• was a Life member of American Atheists and the Freedom from Religion Foundation;
• was an officer of the Bertrand Russell Society, the organization of which her husband Lee had been a founder.

Jan's favorite portrait of her husband, Lee Eisler, by Carol Marie Dameron

Eisler is cited in Who’s Who in Hell and has been a noted speaker in opposition to female genital mutilation. She was known to promote critical thinking and stood in opposition to the notion of therapeutic touch.

She traveled the globe as an invited guest speaker to international conferences and seminars in Russia, India, Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, and Norway.

Eisler has two daughters, Lynn Housh and Zöe Barrera. Known for loving classical music, reading, and fast convertibles, Eisler lives in Madeira Beach, Florida.

{WAS}