Louise Frankel Noun

LOUISE ROSENFIELD NOUN, 94 James Janega, Tribune staff reporter CHICAGO TRIBUNE Louise Rosenfield Noun, 94, who blossomed from a quiet, wealthy matron in Des Moines in the 1940s into an iconoclastic feminist activist, civil libertarian, author and philanthropist, died Friday, Aug. 23, in Des Moines.

The cause was suicide, said her grandson, Jason Flora, who said his grandmother had been ill for months but died a day after her daughter, Susan Flora, died of cancer.

Nationally, Ms. Noun was recognized for being president of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union, where she pushed for--and later financed--the landmark 1st Amendment case Tinker vs. Des Moines Independent School District.

The case, which began with the 1965 suspension of three Des Moines students for wearing black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War, was decided four years later when the U.S. Supreme Court established that schools could not ban "nondisruptive free expression." The decision has been cited since in cases from student locker searches to censorship of student newspapers.

In Des Moines, however, Ms. Noun already had been active in everything from city planning to art collection, civil liberties unions and feminist causes. She helped found the Iowa Women's Political Caucus, the Des Moines chapter of the National Organization for Women, and philanthropic organizations devoted to helping women and girls.

"She was an icon, a very, very, very big fish in a fairly small pond. And as a woman, she was a giant, because she was such a prominent voice at a time when there weren't a whole lot of female voices. The books that she wrote, the advocacy, the philanthropy that she did, all were significant," said Iowa Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Ben Stone.

Her death by drug overdose--which her suicide note termed her "final project" in self-determination--was in keeping with her personality and beliefs, friends said.

"It has kicked off a debate about the importance of people being able to control their own lives, something that was always important to her," said Gil Cranberg, who served with Ms. Noun on the national board of the American Civil Liberties Union in the 1970s.

"Throughout her life, she wanted to be in control, and she wanted to be a contributor," he said. "She was a rare bird. A quiet firebrand."

Born into one of Des Moines' leading merchant families, Ms. Noun did not embrace civic affairs until she was in her 40s. She studied art, receiving a bachelor's degree in 1929 from Grinnell College and a master's degree in art history and museum management from Radcliffe College in 1933. In 1936, she married physician Maurice Noun. They raised one daughter before divorcing in 1968.

Ms. Noun traced her devotion to civic causes to what she said was a flash of pride after asking a question in a League of Women Voters meeting in the 1940s.

Among her contributions to Iowa politics, said Roxanne Conlin, an Iowa gubernatorial candidate in 1982 and a frequent political collaborator with Ms. Noun, was her financial support of "virtually every woman who ever ran for public office in Iowa on the Democratic ticket."

"One of the contributions she made, not just for women, but to politics generally, was a demand that Democrats be Democrats--that you can't wear the mantle of the party if you do not care about equal rights for women or justice for children," Conlin said. "Louise thought if you were not standing for them, you would hear from her. Louise did not do small talk."

"Louise was very forthright and liked to control things," said Susan Talbott, director of the Des Moines Art Center, who described Ms. Noun's long association on the museum board as one that ran hot and cold depending on how she perceived it was treating women.

After meetings of the art center's acquisition committee, Talbott said she often tried to counteract Ms. Noun's stern demeanor with spontaneous hugs.

"She always laughed. I think she knew what I was trying to do," Talbott said. "She never hugged me back, but she didn't seem to mind."

In her will, Ms. Noun added the 84 pieces in her private art collection to the 100 pieces she already had given the art center. In addition, she gave $1 million to the Young Women's Resource Center, which she founded, $50,000 to the Jewish Senior Center, and $25,000 each to the Iowa Civil Liberties Union and American Civil Liberties Union. The remainder of her estate--estimated to be in the millions--will go to the Chrysalis Foundation, which she founded in 1989 because she said the United Way did not do enough to empower women and girls, said the foundation's executive director, Peggy Huppert.

In 1992, Ms. Noun donated a Frida Kahlo painting that sold for $1.6 million to create and endow the University of Iowa's women's archives. Her six books, all published since 1980, include "Strong-Minded Women: The Emergence of the Woman Suffrage Movement in Iowa" and her autobiography: "Journey to Autonomy: A Memoir."

When she was inducted into the Iowa Women's Hall of Fame in 1981, she said she was proud, but added, "I cannot accept it without expressing regret that we women have to bolster our egos by establishing our own hall of fame."

There are no other immediate survivors.

Services will be held Sept. 14 in Des Moines.