March, Stella
Mrs. Stella March was an early founder and organizer of NAMI in California. She graduated from Hunter College, worked with the Red Cross in the Pacific in World War II, organizing shows for the troops, and as an advertising and radio copywriter in New York, Miami, and Los Angeles. Her son’s illness sparked her involvement in NAMI and she has been an advocate for increased research funding and better housing for the mentally ill since 1979, working on both the national and local level. She is especially noted for her work in StigmaBusters, reducing stigmatizing images of the mentally ill in the popular media, and in NAMI educational programs, such as In Our Own Voice.