Tula Jaffe

Tula Jaffe passed away at her home in Sebastopol on Monday, November 5 th at the age of 79. She was a passionate advocate for social justice and humanitarian causes who spent more than fifty years of her life fighting for global peace and working to elevate the causes of social, political, environmental and economic issues. Tula wholeheartedly believed that every member of the community has the power and a responsibility to fight for justice and create a better world. A profile of Tula in the Press Democrat written in 1998 described her as a “true believer. Call her a radical, a progressive, a thorn in the side of the affluent; Tula Jaffe has little patience or subtlety when it comes to fighting for society’s poor and dispossessed.”

From 1982-1989 Tula directed the Sonoma County Chapter of WAND (Women’s Action for Nuclear Disarmament), founded nationally by Dr. Helen Caldicott. From 1989-1998 she coordinated the Sonoma County Task Force on the Homeless. During her years as an activist, she earned many awards and honors, including the Sonoma County “Women of Achievement” Award (1987) and Congresswoman Barbara Boxer’s “Women Making History” Award (1986). At the time of her diagnosis with lung cancer in May of this year, she was a professor of Social Psychology at Santa Rosa Junior College, where she educated and inspired her students to be globally and socially aware citizens.

The daughter of Jewish Russian immigrants who became part of the chicken ranching community in Petaluma, Tula lived most of her life in Sonoma County. She was a lover of animals and a great appreciator of nature. She is survived by her daughter, Jennifer, grandson Gabriel, and brother Nick Jaffe.

For information about the upcoming Celebration of Life for Tula please contact the family at [email protected]