Judith Deborah Revitch Porter

Dr. Judith Porter, born Judith Deborah Revitch, March 26, 1940, in Philadelphia and raised in Plainfield, NJ passed away on October 21, 2024 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. Judy was a beloved professor and academic for many, many years and former chair of the sociology department at Bryn Mawr College. She attended Vassar College for two years and, when she married, transferred to Cornell University where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and at the top of her class. She received her PhD in 1967 from Harvard University. After graduate school, she and her husband Jerry moved to Ardmore, PA where she lived until her death. 

Judy first focused on the sociology of race and published many written works including Black Child, White Child: The Developement of Racial Attitudes, based on her thesis. This was a follow up study of the Clark study cited in Brown vs Board of Education, to see if attitudes had changed since that time. Later on she was a leader in research on vitiligo and how it was a lens for understanding racial attitudes. In the final part of her career she embraced bringing her students out of the classroom. She became a leader in clean needle exchange, and harm reduction and was extremely active in regard to drug policies and treatment in the city of Philadelphia. She served on the Mayor’s Commission on Addiction and Recovery, the Board of Woman Against Abuse, and the Philadelphia Committee of the Princeton Prize in Race Relations. 

Her many academic achievements included being the recipient of a Shannon award of the National Institute of Mental Health, 1992-1994; Ford Foundation fellow, 1973-1974; National Science Foundation fellow, 1967; National Institute on Drug Abuse grant Co-Principal Investigator, since 1998;Board Director, Philadelphia Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome Fund, 1992-1998; and many more. She also invested an enormous amount of time and energy in helping to start and operate Prevention Point Philadelphia, a non-profit harm reduction and addiction treatment center. Through it all, she impacted thousands of students as well as so many throughout North Philadelphia. 

Judy had a lifetime of commitment to social justice, from marching for civil rights in the 1960s, to her work for the Democratic party, and to her serving as an alternate delegate for the 1980 and 1988 Democratic National Conventions. The Porter lawn was always a sea of political signs and the cars never met a political bumper sticker they couldn't find space for. 

In the end, Alzheimer's was what slowed Judy down. Before that she loved to read, loved to travel, loved to laugh, loved to have fun, loved to decorate the house on holidays, and loved most of all her children and grandchildren and sending them all sorts of treats for every holiday. She truly dedicated her life to making her community and the world at large a better place and fought hard for the hopes and dreams of so many marginalized people, many of whom became her deepest, closest friends. 

She was a loving mom, grandma, and wife and always made sure to tell her family how proud she was of them. She is survived by her husband of 64 years, Jerry, her son Daniel (Melanie), her daughter Rebecca (Steve), her son Michael (Elaine) and grandchildren Joshua, Miles, Jake, Lexi, Caroline and Henry as well as too many students and friends to even count. We know that wherever there is a fight and a cause for what is right, Judy will be watching and supporting. She will be missed. Shiva will be observed from 2pm to 8pm Saturday October 26 and 12pm to 8pm Sunday October 27 at her late residence. Guests are welcome.  

Please send donations in her memory to Prevention Point Philadelphia, www.ppponline.org or Women Against Abuse, www.womenagainstabuse.org  or to a charity of your choice. And do a good deed today in honor of Judy.