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Rotraud M. Perry, 79
Attorney fought bias & advocated for equal justice for all
Rotraud Anne-Ilse Mezger Perry, 79, of Washington, D.C., and Provincetown, passed away on Aug. 27, two days shy of her 80th birthday.
She was born on Aug. 29, 1927, in Berlin, Germany, to the late Professor Fritz Mezger and Luise Scheuerle Mezger, and arrived with her parents in Boston at the age of two months. She spent most of her childhood in King of Prussia, Pa., while her father taught at nearby Bryn Mawr College. She received her BA in history and economics from Bryn Mawr in 1948 and went on to complete her Juris Doctor from the University of Michigan Law School, where she was one of only 17 women in her graduating class. She married John Wilson Perry of Detroit, Mich., in Provincetown on Sept. 9, 1950.
Rotraud Perry served as an admiralty lawyer for the Navy’s Military Sea Transportation Service in 1956-57, served for many years on the Criminal Justice Act Committee of the D.C. Municipal Court, and as a volunteer in Legal Aid for the Municipal Court. She was a general practice lawyer in the District of Columbia since 1957, and in Maryland since 1974. She was admitted to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia and the U.S. Court of Appeals in 1954, the Maryland Court of Appeals in 1974, and the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962. She was a member of the American Society of International Law, the Bar Association of the District of Columbia, the District of Columbia Bar Unified, the American Bar Association, the American Judicature Association, the National Association of Women Lawyers, the APTA, the Foreign Law Society, and the Council of Metropolitan Bar Associations. She also served as president of the Women’s Bar Association of the District of Columbia. Over the course of her career as a lawyer, she demonstrated deep concern for her clients, and in a number of cases advocated tirelessly for equal protection under the law and equal access to decent medical care for African-Americans. Her sense of the importance of equal justice for all and of the rule of law was keen, and through her work she made the lives of many people better.
Mrs. Perry worshipped at St. Albans Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., and St. Mary of the Harbor in Provincetown.
She is survived by her husband of 56 years, John Wilson Perry of Washington, D.C.; her son and his wife, Erik and Isabelle Perry, of Princeton Junction, N.J., and their children Daniel, Rebecca and Benjamin; her daughter Julia Perry, of Vienna, Va., and Julia’s daughter Amanda; her daughter Kathleen Perry Long and son-in-law Douglas Long, of Ithaca, N.Y., and their children Christopher and Emily; her son Duncan Perry of Wellesley, his wife Heidi and their children Alexander, Marijke and Annelise; and her daughter Ellen Perry of Douglas, and her son-in-law Mark Landon. She is also survived by her sister Lise Mezger Freed and her brother Erik B. Mezger. She was preceded in death by her brother Fritz Mezger, who passed away earlier this year.
A memorial service will be held at a later date at St. Mary’s of the Harbor, Provincetown.
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Linda A. Menangas, 54
Preston Carter, 77
Ellen Berger, 85
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Sep 6th, 2007