Toni Carabillo, long-time feminist leader and a co-founder and Vice President of the Feminist Majority, died on October 28, 1997 at the age of 71 after a seven-year battle with lymphoma and lung cancer. She died in her sleep at her home in Los Angeles.

A pioneer of the modern day women's movement, Carabillo was a founding member of the National Organization for Women. She developed, along with Ivy Botini, NOW's current logo. She founded and was the first-ever president of the Los Angeles Chapter of NOW and served on NOW's National Board from 1968 to 1977 and as a National NOW Vice President from 1971-1974. She chaired NOW's National Advisory Committee from 1975-1977, led west coast efforts for ratification of the federal Equal Rights Amendment from 1980-1982, and co-edited with Judith Meuli Now Acts from 1969-70, and the National NOW Times from 1977-1985.

Carabillo co-founded the Feminist Majority and Feminist Majority Foundation with Eleanor Smeal, Peg Yorkin, Meuli and Katherine Spillar in 1987 to encourage women's empowerment. She served as the Feminist Majority's Vice President.

"Toni had a driving passion for the women's movement," said Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority. "She worked full-time for 30 years for the feminist movement without monetary compensation. She helped make the National Organization for Women a household name. And she made sure her vision would survive her by mentoring a number of leaders of the feminist movement."

Carabillo led the successful fight in 1971 for NOW to adopt a lesbian and gay rights position and was a principal contributor to many of NOW's early position papers. Carabillo's sharp pen and insightful observations were a driving force in the total restructuring, streamlining and modernization of NOW in the mid to late 1970s.

In addition to being considered an influential founder and leader of the current feminist movement, Carabillo also became known as the "historian" of the movement. She co-authored with Meuli The Feminization of Power and with Meuli and June Bundy Csida The Feminist Chronicles, 1953-1993. At the time of her death she was completing a new book, The Feminist Chronicles of the 20th Century, which will be completed by her co-authors Meuli and Smeal.

"As Toni lay dying from her seven-year illness, she talked mostly about finishing the Chronicles," said Smeal. "She believed it was important to learn the history of the feminist movement - what past feminists have done - because the same tactics used to foil early feminists and suffragists are being used against us now. She also believed we should report on our own work, because too many third-person observers rely on media reports that are inaccurate or biased against us." Carabillo left her library - arguably the most extensive collection on feminism in the 20th century - to the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Carabillo earned her A.B. degree cum laude in English and American Literature from Middlebury College, Vermont, and an M.A. from Columbia University. She also had professional training in photography, graphic design fine art, and computer technology. In 1969, she co-founded the Women's Heritage Corporation, a publishing company that produced the Women's Heritage Calendar and Almanac and a series of paperbacks on such figures as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucy Stone. In 1970, she formed a graphic arts firm with Judith Meuli in Los Angeles.

Carabillo designed many of the pins and buttons of the feminist movement, including the ERA "Failure is Impossible" medallion, NOW's commemorative medallion, and the Feminist Majority's women's symbol with Capitol dome pin and logo.

As a feminist advocate, Carabillo appeared on both national and local television and radio. She authored many Op-Ed articles, a number of which were nationally syndicated. Her biography appears in Who's Who in America and Who's Who of American Women. Beside her throughout the illness and at her death was her life partner of 30 years, Judith Meuli.

"Toni was a leader, a partner, and a mentor in the struggle for women's equality," said Smeal. "We will miss her desperately - but she mentored a long line of feminists who will carry her work well into the 21st century. Her historical work will ensure that the legacy of the current movement lives on." €