Barbara S. Preiskel
*Barbara Scott Preiskel was born on this date in 1924. She was a Black attorney, activist, and administrator.
From Washington, D.C., she was a 1945 graduate of Wellesley College and a 1947 Yale Law School graduate. After clerking for the U.S. District Court in Boston, Massachusetts, she worked with the law firm of Dwight, Royal, Harris, Keogh, & Casey. She later joined the Motion Picture Association of America as Senior Vice President and General Counsel from 1977-1983. Preiskel served on the Board of Directors of many corporations, including American Stores Company, General Electric Company, Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company, Textron Inc., and The Washington Post Company.
She also was a former member of the Board of Directors of Amstar Corporation, Collins & Aikman Corporation, Jewel Companies, Inc., Levi Strauss & Co., and R.H. Macy & Co., Inc. Preiskel was active in some charitable, educational, cultural, and civic organizations, including serving as a Trustee of the American Museum of the Moving Image, and was Chairman of the Distribution Committee of The New York Community Trust. She was a Trustee of Wellesley College, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Tougaloo College, and a Successor Trustee of Yale University Corporation. She also served as Chairman of the Council of Advisors to the Hunter College School of Social Work and was a member of the Board of Advisors to the New York University Program on Philanthropy and the Law.
Preiskel received several awards, including the National Association of Theatre Owners Meritorious Award, 1970; the Theatre Owners of New England Award, 1971; the National Association of Theatre Owners of N.Y. Meritorious Award, 1972; Wellesley College Alumnae Achievement Award, 1975; Catalyst Award for Women of Outstanding Achievement, 1979; YWCA — Tribute to Women in International Industry — Honoree, 1984; YWCA — Elizabeth Cutter Morrow Award, 1985; AWED Award for Outstanding Contributions to Women's Economic Development, 1985; National Women's Economic Alliance Foundation — Director's Choice Award 1989; Civic Award 1995.
She married Robert H. Preiskel. Barbara Preiskel died of leukemia in Manhattan, New York, in June 2002.
