Jill Chaifetz, 41, Attorney
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Jill Chaifetz, who spent most of her professional life championing the legal and educational rights of the city’s children, died yesterday at 41 of ovarian cancer.
Her death was announced by Advocates for Children of New York, the group she had headed since 1998.
In 1992, Chaifetz founded the Legal Services Center at The Door, a New York youth development agency. Through the center, she provided legal advice to young people, including many who were in foster care or homeless.
At Advocates for Children, where Chaifetz served as executive director, she oversaw a variety of initiatives aimed at helping children, including programs that provide information about individual city schools. AFC also has helped file lawsuits against schools on behalf of parents and students.
AFC co-director Elisa Hyman said Chaifetz was “committed to changing the world and civil rights and helping people.”
Chaifetz grew up in Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., and graduated from Swarthmore College in 1986. She earned a law degree from the New York University School of Law three years later.
She taught a seminar on children and the law at the Fordham University School of Law and was involved with several organizations beyond her own. She published reports and articles on topics such as the rights of teen parents.
Hyman said Chaifetz, who lived in Manhattan, fell ill last spring but remained active in the AFC until recently.
Randi Weingarten, head of the United Federation of Teachers, said Chaifetz “was a wonderful advocate for children and will be sorely missed.”
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein called her death a “tremendous loss to New York City children, their parents and the entire educational community.”
Chaifetz was always concerned about helping other people, her brother said.
“She was one of a kind – they don’t make people like that anymore,” Lawrence Chaifetz said. “She always wanted to help people, always was concerned about the underprivileged and underrepresented.”
Chaifetz’s immediate survivors, be sides her brother, include her husband and three children.
