Grace Berg Schaible

Grace Berg Schaible (November 28, 1925 – June 9, 2017) was an American lawyer and politician. In 1987, she became Alaska's first female state attorney general, serving from 1987 to 1989. She also served as the chair of the Alaska Permanent Fund.

Background Grace Lucile Berg was the daughter of immigrant parents. Her father, Hans A. Berg, was from Otteren (near Davik), Nordfjord, Norway. Her mother, Mandis, hailed from a village near Lindesberg, Sweden. Both arrived in the United States separately in 1910. When her mother was seven months pregnant, she left the Alaska Territory and moved to Tacoma, Washington, where Berg was born on November 28, 1925. She returned to Alaska with her mother while she was still a baby. Although her parents were conservative Republicans, she would be a lifelong Democrat.

Career After graduating from law school, Schaible clerked for the law firm of McNealy, Merdes, Camarot and Fitzgerald in Fairbanks before taking the bar exam in October 1959. Beginning in 1960, she practiced law for the firm, eventually becoming a partner. For nine years she simultaneously served as general counsel for Arctic Slope Regional Corporation. She served in that capacity until 1989. Other positions she held include chair of the Alaska Permanent Fund, the first female to do so.