Remarkable Women of San Diego: Pioneers, Visionaries and Innovators

San Diego enjoys a diverse legacy of formidable female leaders. Ellen Browning Scripps financed and established the groundbreaking Scripps Oceanography Institute. In 1927, Belle Benchley became the nation’s first female zoo director and for nearly thirty years pioneered new forms of exhibition and developed the world-class San Diego Zoo. Guatemalan activist and advocate Luisa Moreno established the United Fish Cannery Workers Union to protect the rights of workers during World War II. Ruth Alexander set new altitude records for light planes at the peak of the city’s aviation boom. Bertha Pendleton became the first female and first African American San Diego school superintendent in 1993. Authors Hannah Cohen and Gloria Harris document these and many more stories of extraordinary local women.