Lois Herr

Herr was born in Hershey, Pennsylvania.{{cite news|title=Lois K. Herr (D) |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/elections/2004/candidates/22324/ |newspaper=Washington Post |year=2004 |access-date=2009-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108061000/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/elections/2004/candidates/22324/ |archive-date=2012-11-08 |url-status = dead}} She graduated from Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, received a master's degree from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from Fordham University.

Herr's first full-time job, in 1963, was as a seventh grade English teacher in Middletown Township, New Jersey. The following year she began working at Bell Laboratories. She held various senior management positions with NYNEX, AT&T, New York Telephone and Bell Laboratories through 1990, working in line operations, sales and marketing, government relations, corporate planning and finance. She gradually became aware that women at AT&T did not receive the same benefits as men, and that there were some jobs which were closed to women. Following a 1970 sex discrimination suit by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Herr and other women at AT&T worked within the corporation for equal rights for women. AT&T settled the suit in 1973.{{cite web|title=Lois Herr Papers|url=http://findingaids.hagley.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/2462.xml|work=Finding Aid|publisher=Hagley Museum and Library|access-date=May 15, 2013}}

She also served as a Presidential Interexchange Executive, working under President Gerald Ford in the White House Office of Management and Budget. Herr has been scholar-in-residence at Elizabethtown College, taught in their Business Department and Center for Continuing Education and also served as Director of Marketing and Public Affairs. Herr has served on several boards, including Conestoga Financial Corporation, the Pennsylvania State Board of Barber Examiners, Elizabethtown College, Penn Laurel Girl Scout Council, the Greystone Manor Therapeutic Riding Center and the Veteran Feminists of America.

Herr's first book, Women, Power and AT&T: Winning Rights in the Workplace, was published in 2002 by Northeastern University Press. According to WorldCat, it is held in 488 libraries.{{cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/50292370|title=Women, power, and AT & T: winning rights in the workplace|first=Lois Kathryn|last=Herr|date=January 1, 2003|publisher=Northeastern University Press|oclc=50292370|access-date=September 15, 2016|via=Open WorldCat}} It was reprinted by URLink in 2020. Her second book, Dear Coach: Letters Home from World War II, was published in 2009, based on over 200 letters sent to her father, Coach Ira Herr, from men and women serving in the war.{{cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/438753812|title=Dear Coach: letters home from World War II|first1=Lois Kathryn|last1=Herr|first2=Ira Risser|last2=Herr|date=January 1, 2009|publisher=Lois Kathryn Herr|oclc=438753812|access-date=September 15, 2016|via=Open WorldCat}} A third book, Dear Woman of My Dreams, was published by XLIBRIS in 2016.

Herr previously served as the Executive Director of the Lancaster County Democratic Committee and was both a local and a state committeeperson in the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. She served also as Chair of the Lebanon County Democratic Committee and a member of the National Organization for Women.{{cite news |title=Lois Herr on the fringe Clark T. Regitz Manheim Township |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LC&p_theme=lc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=114EC9B096469F18&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |work=Lancaster Newspapers |date=October 21, 2006 |access-date=April 25, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018133716/http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=LC&p_theme=lc&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=114EC9B096469F18&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |archive-date=October 18, 2012 |url-status = dead}}

{{See also|United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 2006#16th Congressional district}}

Herr ran for the US Congressional seat held by Republican Joseph R. Pitts in 2004, 2006 and 2010. She was defeated in each election by the incumbent.{{cite news |first=Maurice |last=Boyer |author2=Busby, Karen |title=It's status quo for Election 2004 in Chester County |url=http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2243&dept_id=451163&newsid=13287340&PAG=461&rfi=9 |work=Avon Grove Sun |publisher=TownNews |date=November 4, 2004 |access-date=April 25, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140204095119/http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=2243&dept_id=451163&newsid=13287340&PAG=461&rfi=9 |archive-date=February 4, 2014 |url-status = dead}}{{cite news|title=U.S. House, Pennsylvania District 16 |url=http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/keyraces/717/ |newspaper=Washington Post |year=2006 |access-date=2009-04-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211002413/http://projects.washingtonpost.com/elections/keyraces/717/ |archive-date=2007-02-11 |url-status = dead}}

!|Year

!

!|Democrat

!|Votes

!|Pct

!

!|Republican

!|Votes

!|Pct

!

!|Third Party

!|Votes

!|Pct

!

|-

|2004

|

|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |Lois Herr

|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |98,410

|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |34.5%

|

|{{Party shading/Republican}} |Joe Pitts

|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |183,620

|{{Party shading/Republican}} |64.4%

|

|{{Party shading/Green}} |William Hagen

|{{Party shading/Green}} align="right" |3,269

|{{Party shading/Green}} |1.25

|

|-

|2006

|

|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |Lois Herr

|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |80,915

|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |39.6%

|

|{{Party shading/Republican}} |Joe Pitts

|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |115,741

|{{Party shading/Republican}} |56.6%

|

|{{Party shading/Independent}} |John Murphy

|{{Party shading/Independent}} align="right" |7,958

|{{Party shading/Independent}} |3.9%

|

|-

|2010

|

|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |Lois Herr

|{{Party shading/Democratic}} align="right" |70,994

|{{Party shading/Democratic}} |34.6%

|

|{{Party shading/Republican}} |Joe Pitts

|{{Party shading/Republican}} align="right" |134,113

|{{Party shading/Republican}} |65.4%

|

|{{Party shading/None}} |

|{{Party shading/None}} align="right" |

|{{Party shading/None}} |

|

|-

|}

In 2013, Herr was elected to the Mount Gretna Borough Council as a nominee of the Democratic Party. Herr received 57 votes, defeating Republican nominee Angela Shea, who had 32 votes.{{cite web|title=Lebanon County election results|url=http://www.lebcounty.org/Documents/EL45.HTM|publisher=Lebanon County, Pennsylvania|access-date=January 24, 2014}}

In 2018, Herr was the Democratic nominee for state senator in Pennsylvania's 48th legislative district and lost to incumbent Republican Mike Folmer.{{cite web |url=https://www.electionreturns.pa.gov/General/OfficeResults?OfficeID=12&ElectionID=63&ElectionType=G&IsActive=1 |title=2018 General Election: Senator in the General Assembly |date=November 6, 2018 |publisher=Pennsylvania Department of State |access-date=December 4, 2018 }}

Herr is a native of Hershey, Pennsylvania and currently resides in Mount Gretna.

• Lois Kathryn Herr, Women, Power and AT&T: Winning Rights in the Workplace, Northeastern (December 12, 2002), {{ISBN|978-1-55553-537-7}}
• Lois Kathryn Herr, Dear Coach: Letters Home from World War II, (August 10, 2009), {{ISBN|978-0-615-30230-0}}

{{reflist}}

• {{CongLinks | congbio= | votesmart=47138 | fec=H4PA16051 | congress= }}
• [http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=PA16&cycle=2010 Campaign contributions] at OpenSecrets.org
• [http://loisherr.com/ Dear Coach] official book site
• [http://findingaids.hagley.org/xtf/view?docId=ead/2462.xml Lois K. Herr papers] at Hagley Museum and Library

Oral History at https://www.veteranfeministsofamerica.org

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Herr, Lois Kathryn}}

Category:Living people

Category:1941 births

Category:Elizabethtown College alumni

Category:People from Hershey, Pennsylvania

Category:Pennsylvania Democrats

Category:American women's rights activists

Category:Activists from Pennsylvania

Category:Candidates in the 2004 United States elections

Category:Candidates in the 2006 United States elections

Category:Candidates in the 2010 United States elections

Category:Pennsylvania local politicians

Category:Women in Pennsylvania politics

Category:American United Methodists

Category:21st-century American women politicians