Dr. Edna Louise Saffy, human rights advocate and Jacksonville native was born on March 9, 1935. She attended college at the University of Florida where she received several degrees, including the Master’s and Doctorate of Philosophy degrees. She was a professor of Rhetoric and Public Address at University of Florida and Florida State College at Jacksonville, where she was elected Professor Emeritus following her retirement in December 2007.

Dr. Saffy was a founder of the National Organization for Women chapters in Jacksonville and Gainesville, as well as founder of the Jacksonville Women’s Network. She was named “A Woman of Courage and Vision” by the Mayor’s Commission on the Status of Women and the recipient of a Lifetime EVE Award by the Florida Times Union. As a humanitarian and activist, she served on numerous local, state, and national committees, including the John F. Kennedy Center Committee for the Performing Arts during the Clinton Administration, the Advisory Committee on LaVilla Cultural Heritage District, American Arab Institute, Duval County Democratic Executive Committee, and the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission. Dr. Saffy was also politically active. She led a 1975 march in Tallahassee in support of the Equal Rights Amendment. She served as a Florida delegate to the International Women’s Conference and as a Florida State delegate in six Democratic National Conventions. She was also the president of the Florida Women’s Political Caucus. Dr. Saffy died June 20, 2010.