The National Organization for Women and the women's movement lost a valiant champion on March 16, 2012. Olga Vives served as NOW's executive vice president from 2005 to 2009, and NOW's action vice president from 2001 to 2005.
The following is an obituary published on the NOW Website, now.org/history/vives-memoriam.html .
Olga began her career as a crusader very early in life. At 14 she arrived in the United States with her Cuban family, and as the only one who spoke English, she marched into agency after agency negotiating on behalf of her parents and relatives. She knew and practiced the art of negotiation and resolve in her principled deal making, long before most of us managed more than our allowance.
Vives was an outspoken leader in the feminist movement and has served at various levels of NOW, including chapter president, Illinois NOW Action Vice-President, National Board member, Regional Director and former Chair of NOW's Lesbian Rights Committee. She also served on the NOW Political Action Committee.
Vives worked on campaigns to elect women's rights supporters to all levels of government, including the campaign that elected Carol Moseley-Braun as the first African American woman in the U.S. Senate. She also participated in efforts to block the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, based on Anita Hill's testimony. Vives is a coalition builder, who works to expand NOW's reach to more women of color, lesbians and young feminists.
Olga brought to NOW this same determination based on her life as a businesswoman, single mother, immigrant and proud lesbian. She was a dedicated advocate for all women and fiercely fought for the rights of girls and women who were often left out in the crusade for civil, human and equal rights. Joining NOW in the early '80s in Illinois to fight for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment, she was first out of the box to demand economic justice and equal opportunity for women treated as second class, or no class, citizens.
In her eight years as a national officer in NOW, she led the charge against the Iraq invasion, demanded fairness for Wal-Mart workers before it became stylish, exposed the hypocrisy of the Bush White House with The Truth About George campaign, represented the women's movement in demanding that sexual identity be included in the Hate Crimes legislation, held the first meeting of the National Coalition for Immigrant Women's Rights, and devised a lobbying strategy to support equal marriage when allied organizations said "it's not time yet."
Olga devised "10 for Change," a voter mobilization tool using the internet (before online voter organizing was popular) and led the NOW board across the bridge to Juarez, Mexico, to protest the rampant and unsolved murders of women. And in November 2007 she called us all to roll up our sleeves and hit the ground to work for Hillary Clinton's presidential bid. Many of us followed her to Iowa and other key primary states, and thousands volunteered to make phone calls and donate money to this effort spearheaded by Olga. Her response to those who suggested "The time isn't right, wait for a while, how can we do this alone" was "There's no time like right NOW" and "If not us, who will?"
As NOW stated: "Olga spent her last week in a sunny hospice, surrounded by family and friends. She loved reading the hundreds of messages NOW members sent her, and she loved reviewing her life's loves and accomplishments. Olga's only regret was that she wasn't quite through yet, and she would not see her granddaughter Mia grow up. So we all promised to be stewards for Mia and all young girls who deserve the opportunities and challenges that Olga fought so hard to guarantee for them.
"Olga was our jefe and compadreour sister, our friend, our boss and our conscience, our angel and party girl, our inspiration and our model, exasperating and exhilarating. When it was suggested that she go to heaven and have a chat with God and ask her that she stop the wars and the rapes and beatings, Olga laughed and said, 'Okay, give me a target list.'"
Vives most recently lived in Phoenix. She is survived by three children and many friends and family.