Jean Somerville Kotkin
From Philosopedia
Kotkin, Jean Somerville (30 October 1922 - 4 Jan 2003)
Kotkin, who was born in Montreal, was a graduate of McGill University, the Post-Graduate Center for Mental Health in Pastoral Counseling and she received a degree in religious studies from Fordham University. Her three children were educated in the Ethical Culture Schools and the New York Society's Sunday School.
She was for 15 years the executive director of the Humanist Institute, the executive director of the American Ethical Union for 17 years, and the Leader for National Development of the American Ethical Union. She served on the Board of Trustees of the New York Society for Ethical Culture for over two decades, was on the Board of Governors of the Ethical Culture Schools, was a member of the Board of the Encampment for Citizenship, and was a founding member of the Weis Ecology Center.
Kotkin was a member of the Women's City Club of New York, the American Society of Association Executives, American Society of Professional and Executive Women, and the West Side Clergy of New York City.
In addition to having been executive secretary of the American Ethical Union, she was on the editorial board of The Humanist an was a contributing editor on Free Inquiry.
After succeeding Howard Radest in the American Ethical Union office, she became a Leader for National Development.
Described by James F. Hornback as being a “religious” humanist” with strong sympathies toward psychological humanism, Kotkin signed Humanist Manifesto II, was on the board of the American Humanist Association, and was Executive Director in New York City of the Humanist Institute.
In addition, she was the IHEU’s main representative to the United Nations.
Kotkin died at the age of 80.
(See entry for Ethical Culture's Women Leaders.)
