Norma J. Ehrlich cared so much about the opportunity for all people to advance themselves without regard to their ethnic, racial or income background.

How many people grow up walking through their living room and seeing one or more of the Three Stooges visiting the family home? That was not unusual for Norma Ehrlich, who grew up in the heart of Hollywood.

Norma lived her entire life in Los Angeles, attended Carthay Circle Elementary School, Bancroft Jr. High School and Fairfax High School, where she was the first female editor of the school newspaper, but her favorite time in school was at UCLA.

She also spoke Spanish, became one of the early batch of graduate students to be certificated to teach ESL (English as a Second Language), owned her own public relations firm, worked in political campaigns and was a commissioner for two departments of the City of Los Angeles. She worked for a man she admired and adored, Mayor Tom Bradley. She was also a dearly loved mother, a grandmother who doted on her grandchildren, and a wife for more than 42 years.

While many of her friends knew her to be a highly intelligent person, she was equally driven by an emotional side and cared deeply about the issues of education, race relations, and the cause of peace and democratic principles. Norma actively supported the integration of her children’s schools, lobbied for issues of the day, and worked tirelessly for many political candidates.

She also was devoted to her trashy paperbacks, her nightly milkshake and hot baths. Norma was both a private and public person.

But most of all, Norma J. Ehrlich cared so much about the opportunity for all people to advance themselves without regard to their ethnic, racial or income background.

Hence, the Norma J. Ehrlich Alumni Scholarship is awarded to multiple young women every year who exhibit some of the qualities and characteristics that Norma embodied.

To find out more about our scholars, please click here for an article on our current “Featured Scholar”

You can also find more of our scholars
here (A-M) and here (N-Z)