Mary Heftel Hooton Fund

Image

The future of the WBAI is the future of the Mary Heftel Hooton Fund.

September 20, 2018  |  Hooton Awareness Reception

Diana Joseph, Chief Investment Officer at Telemus Capital WBAI member and Hooten Fund advisor

Donate to the Hooton Fund
Image

WBAI needs to re-visit the Hooton Fund, how it is used ad how vital it is to the WBAI's future. It is incumbent on the WBAI membership to discuss how the Fund can be grown today so the WBAI operations that the Fund supports are sustainable tomorrow and in the future. Simply put, the Hooton Fund is WBAI's home and we cannot afford to lose our home."

Corinne Heggie, Owner of Wochner Law Firm LLC
WBAI's First Vice-President and 2018-2019 Chair of the Hooten Fund Committee

Who Was Mary Heftel Hooton?

On July 5, 1919, Judge Hooton was born in New York, NY. After people laughed at her childhood aspiration to be President of the United States, Judge Hooton realized she first had to become a lawyer. She spent her undergraduate years at Seton Hill College and West Virginia University before she earned her J.D. from DePaul University in 1943.

During her 33-year career in private practice and later as a judge, Judge Hooton attempted to make women lawyers more known and accepted. As WBAI's President in 1976-1977, Judge Hooton's single charge was that women "keep their heads up and keep going." WBAI submits Judge Hooton's goal was reasonable and today, it is our mandate!

In her role as WBAI's 2018-2019 First Vice President and Hooton Fund Committee Chair, Corinne C. Heggie conducted the inaugural Hooton Fund Awareness Campaign in September 2018. The campaign culminated in a reception graciously hosted by Howard Ankin of Ankin Law Office LLC to honor and educate the WBAI membership and legal community about Judge Hooton's monetary contribution to WBAI and women in the profession. Information about Judge Hooton, her legal career and bequest to the WBAI is below:

Credit: WBAI - The First 75 Years, Charlotte Adelman, Turner Publishing (1992).

What is the Mary Heftel Hooton Fund?

The fund was bequeathed by Mary Heftel Hooton to the WBAI upon her death in 1993. With this gift, the WBAI established the Mary Heftel Hooton Fund. Shortly after the WBAI received the gift, the WBAI used the Hooton Fund to purchase its home-an office on the Fourth Floor of the CBA Building. WBAI's Hooton Fund is used to pay monthly assessments and capital reserve payments to the CBA Building, real estate taxes, and to operate the office.
Donate to the Hooton Fund