Gloria Allred

Gloria Rachel Allred (née Bloom; born July 3, 1941) is an American civil rights lawyer who is noted for taking high-profile and often controversial cases; she has been particularly involved with cases involving the protection of women's rights. 2Early life and family Gloria Rachel Bloom was born into a Jewish working-class family of Philadelphia on July 3, 1941. Her father worked as a salesman; her British-born mother was a housewife. After graduating from the Philadelphia High School for Girls, she attended the University of Pennsylvania, where she met her first husband, Peyton Bray. The couple had their only child, Lisa, on September 20, 1961, and divorced shortly after. Lisa Bloom is also an attorney and is best known as a former Court TV anchor. Gloria Bloom moved back in with her parents and continued her education. In 1963, she earned a bachelor's degree in English, graduating with honors. Over the objection of her professor, she wrote her honors thesis on black writers. She tried her hand at a variety of jobs before she decided to become a teacher, taking a position at Benjamin Franklin High Schoo