Mary Ann Kerwin

Mary Ann Kerwin (born 1931) is an American lawyer and breastfeeding activist. One of the seven founders of La Leche League in 1956, she established the Colorado branch of the advocacy group and drafted state laws on behalf of women who breastfeed their infants in public and in the workplace. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2012.

Early life, education, and marriage Mary Ann Collins was born in Wisconsin in 1931 and moved to the Chicago area as a child. She earned her B.A. in English literature, minoring in education, at Barat College of the Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic college in Lake Forest, Illinois, in 1953. They had six sons, one of whom died in infancy, and three daughters. In the US, only one in five newborns were breastfed from birth; most were immediately fed from bottles. White and Thompson decided to start a breastfeeding advocacy group and invited a few women, who invited their acquaintances; the seven founders were White, Tompson, Kerwin, Edwina Froehlich, Viola Lennon, Mary Ann Cahill, and Betty Wagner, all Catholic mothers. Kerwin, expecting her second child at the time, had received help from White and her husband, Dr. Gregory White, a family doctor, to successfully breastfeed her first baby.

The women held several meetings at White's house in Franklin Park, Illinois, to discuss the type of information and support breastfeeding mothers would need. Kerwin founded the Colorado chapter of La Leche League and also served as chair of the international board.

Legal career In 1986 Kerwin earned her J.D. at the University of Denver.

Awards and honors Kerwin was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2012.

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