Oddly enough I think about Mary often. I will never never never forget the gold cadillac limo driving all over Napa filled with sometimes not quite sober girls The weekends at Mary's house and the parties. Well stuff of legends. I don't think her parents had a clue. I'm sorry that you are no longer with us Mary, but your memory lives on.
Mary Dunlap -- S.F. police watchdog, rights advocate
Henry K. Lee, San Francisco Chronicle
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Mary Dunlap, director of San Francisco's Office of Citizen Complaints, the city's independent police watchdog agency, died Friday at her home in San Francisco. She was 54.
Ms. Dunlap died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was surrounded by friends and family, including her partner of nearly 18 years, Maureen Mason.
When she became head of the complaints office in 1996, Ms. Dunlap inherited a high-pressure job, overseeing the handling of complaints from citizens about police misconduct. She was credited with turning around an agency that had been plagued by internal problems and criticized for not being aggressive enough. There had also been a high turnover of directors.
"She rejuvenated it," Donna Medley, the office's acting director and chief investigator, said Tuesday. "She had a high standard of professionalism that she bestowed on the agency.
"It's such a rare opportunity to work for a political figure who has impeccable integrity, compassion and a sense of humor," Medley said.
Even before taking over the agency, Ms. Dunlap was a highly regarded civil rights attorney who argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of gay rights and gender equality.
She defended the Gay Olympics when the U.S. Olympic Committee demanded that it remove the word "Olympics" from its title. The committee ultimately prevailed, and the event is now known as the Gay Games.
Ms. Dunlap was also involved in a number of high-profile discrimination cases, including that of Eleanor Swift, a law professor who sued Boalt Hall Law School at UC Berkeley in 1989 to win tenure denied her because she is a woman, and a multimillion-dollar bias suit against the San Francisco Fire Department in which then-Fire Chief Bob Demmons was a plaintiff.
She was a founding member of Equal Rights Advocates, a public interest law firm that works on behalf of women subjected to sex discrimination.
Ms. Dunlap left her active law practice after the suit against the Fire Department was concluded. The litigation resulted in the issuance in 1988 of a decadelong consent decree in which a federal judge in San Francisco oversaw the department's testing, hiring and promotion policies.
Friends said Ms. Dunlap was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2001. She shared her progress on a Web site, discussing her chemotherapy and radiation treatments and thanking friends for their support.
In an entry on the Web site on Sept. 15, Ms. Dunlap wrote, "It is extremely hard to be confronted with so many unknowns, so much that is way, way beyond my control. My faith in the essential goodness that is always present in some form -- real, potential, imaginable -- comforts me deeply. Along with plenty of fear and distress, I am hope-full."
More recently, Ms. Dunlap told her partner, "I am so tired of thinking about cancer. I want to be thinking about poetry, or the Supreme Court. Or the Giants."
"Mary gave it such a strong fight. I think a lot of us thought that she was going to beat it," said Jean Field, a senior attorney with the Office of Citizen Complaints.
In her spare time, Ms. Dunlap enjoyed painting and giving gifts to children and anyone who seemed in need of them.
"She was a remarkable individual who touched so many people's lives," said Samara Marion, a staff attorney with the complaints office.
"She was able to build bridges with so many different kinds of people," Marion said. "She embraced her death in the way she embraced her life, which was with incredible integrity and passion and love and openness."
Former San Francisco Police Chief Fred Lau, who often found himself at the opposing end of complaints office investigations, said, "I really respected her tenacity in fighting for what she thought was right. She was the consummate professional."
Lau said he was pleasantly surprised when Ms. Dunlap briefly returned to run the agency she loved after her first bout with cancer. "That showed her capacity to fight," said Lau, who is now head of security at Oakland International Airport.
Connie Perry, president of the Police Commission, said Ms. Dunlap will be missed as a formidable advocate for citizens' rights in the face of the Police Officers Association, the police union.
"She was tough; she was also very good," Perry said. "She was a very bright person -- there was always contention between her and the POA. That's the nature of the business."
Besides her partner, Ms. Dunlap is survived by her sister, Helen Dunlap.
Thanks for the update Jim. Mary was always a good person to me and I liked her. I had thought about her a few times and thought she was in Washington, DC. This brings closure to a classmate I considered a friend.
I saw Mary at our, I believe, 30th. reunion, in Yountville. She was happy, full of life and completely contented. Mary was always fair and good to everyone in school. She was so smart, I was always impressed at her accomplishements. It was such a loss, so sad, when she passed away...
Susan McNabb
Oddly enough I think about Mary often. I will never never never forget the gold cadillac limo driving all over Napa filled with sometimes not quite sober girls The weekends at Mary's house and the parties. Well stuff of legends. I don't think her parents had a clue. I'm sorry that you are no longer with us Mary, but your memory lives on.
Pat Anderson (Simpkins)
According to Helen Dunlap, her sister, class of 1964 of Napa High School. Mary passed away a couple of years ago.
Jim Bell
Mary Dunlap -- S.F. police watchdog, rights advocate
Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, January 22, 2003
Mary Dunlap, director of San Francisco's Office of Citizen Complaints, the city's independent police watchdog agency, died Friday at her home in San Francisco. She was 54.
Ms. Dunlap died after a battle with pancreatic cancer. She was surrounded by friends and family, including her partner of nearly 18 years, Maureen Mason.
When she became head of the complaints office in 1996, Ms. Dunlap inherited a high-pressure job, overseeing the handling of complaints from citizens about police misconduct. She was credited with turning around an agency that had been plagued by internal problems and criticized for not being aggressive enough. There had also been a high turnover of directors.
"She rejuvenated it," Donna Medley, the office's acting director and chief investigator, said Tuesday. "She had a high standard of professionalism that she bestowed on the agency.
"It's such a rare opportunity to work for a political figure who has impeccable integrity, compassion and a sense of humor," Medley said.
Even before taking over the agency, Ms. Dunlap was a highly regarded civil rights attorney who argued before the Supreme Court on behalf of gay rights and gender equality.
She defended the Gay Olympics when the U.S. Olympic Committee demanded that it remove the word "Olympics" from its title. The committee ultimately prevailed, and the event is now known as the Gay Games.
Ms. Dunlap was also involved in a number of high-profile discrimination cases, including that of Eleanor Swift, a law professor who sued Boalt Hall Law School at UC Berkeley in 1989 to win tenure denied her because she is a woman, and a multimillion-dollar bias suit against the San Francisco Fire Department in which then-Fire Chief Bob Demmons was a plaintiff.
She was a founding member of Equal Rights Advocates, a public interest law firm that works on behalf of women subjected to sex discrimination.
Ms. Dunlap was also a professor at Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco, Golden Gate University, the University of San Francisco and Stanford University, where she formed the law curriculum on sexual orientation.
She also developed course work for law classes on sexual orientation at the University of Michigan.
Ms. Dunlap left her active law practice after the suit against the Fire Department was concluded. The litigation resulted in the issuance in 1988 of a decadelong consent decree in which a federal judge in San Francisco oversaw the department's testing, hiring and promotion policies.
Friends said Ms. Dunlap was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in September 2001. She shared her progress on a Web site, discussing her chemotherapy and radiation treatments and thanking friends for their support.
In an entry on the Web site on Sept. 15, Ms. Dunlap wrote, "It is extremely hard to be confronted with so many unknowns, so much that is way, way beyond my control. My faith in the essential goodness that is always present in some form -- real, potential, imaginable -- comforts me deeply. Along with plenty of fear and distress, I am hope-full."
More recently, Ms. Dunlap told her partner, "I am so tired of thinking about cancer. I want to be thinking about poetry, or the Supreme Court. Or the Giants."
"Mary gave it such a strong fight. I think a lot of us thought that she was going to beat it," said Jean Field, a senior attorney with the Office of Citizen Complaints.
In her spare time, Ms. Dunlap enjoyed painting and giving gifts to children and anyone who seemed in need of them.
"She was a remarkable individual who touched so many people's lives," said Samara Marion, a staff attorney with the complaints office.
"She was able to build bridges with so many different kinds of people," Marion said. "She embraced her death in the way she embraced her life, which was with incredible integrity and passion and love and openness."
Former San Francisco Police Chief Fred Lau, who often found himself at the opposing end of complaints office investigations, said, "I really respected her tenacity in fighting for what she thought was right. She was the consummate professional."
Lau said he was pleasantly surprised when Ms. Dunlap briefly returned to run the agency she loved after her first bout with cancer. "That showed her capacity to fight," said Lau, who is now head of security at Oakland International Airport.
Connie Perry, president of the Police Commission, said Ms. Dunlap will be missed as a formidable advocate for citizens' rights in the face of the Police Officers Association, the police union.
"She was tough; she was also very good," Perry said. "She was a very bright person -- there was always contention between her and the POA. That's the nature of the business."
Besides her partner, Ms. Dunlap is survived by her sister, Helen Dunlap.
Jerry E McMillan
Thanks for the update Jim. Mary was always a good person to me and I liked her. I had thought about her a few times and thought she was in Washington, DC. This brings closure to a classmate I considered a friend.
Mary Pryts (Thomas)
I saw Mary at our, I believe, 30th. reunion, in Yountville. She was happy, full of life and completely contented. Mary was always fair and good to everyone in school. She was so smart, I was always impressed at her accomplishements. It was such a loss, so sad, when she passed away...