SHAPIRO092307

Minna Shapiro was social worker who helped prostitutes, kids, gays

The innovative, cutting-edge counselor skillfully got to the bottom of her patients' problems.

By Ben Cohen, Star Tribune

Last update: September 22, 2007 - 10:39 PM

Minna Shapiro of Minneapolis, an innovative social worker in the Twin Cities, worked "on the cutting edge" to help Minnesotans in need.

Shapiro cofounded a program to help women out of prostitution. She was one of the first people to establish regular counseling services for the gay and lesbian community, and one of the first to engage in family therapy.

Shapiro, 92, died on Sept. 10 in Minneapolis.

She moved to the Twin Cities in 1946. By 1957, she had earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's degree in social work at the University of Minnesota.

"As a counselor she was amazing. She listened to what was on the surface and five minutes later she was down at the bottom of the ocean," said Marty Allen, a social worker who worked with Shapiro at Minneapolis' Family & Children's Service.

"She was really like a force of nature. She was strong, dramatic and forceful, but at the same time, very kind and loving," Allen said. "And she was always on the cutting edge."

Unusual partnership pays off

In 1978, she cofounded the PRIDE Program at the Family & Children's Service with a prostitute.

Molly Greenman, president and CEO of Family & Children's Service, called both women "courageous."

The unusual partnership paid off, because Shapiro's cofounder could relate well to their clients.

"Without Minna, thousands of women and teens would not have been helped to get out of prostitution," Greenman said. "She brought attention to the public that prostitution is violence against women and children."

PRIDE has served as a model for similar programs in other cities.

"Many in the boomer generation in our business were trained by her or worked with her," said Greenman. "She was one of the lions of social work practice in our community."

Shapiro's daughter Marcy, of Golden Valley, said her mother was inspired to help people by her experience of growing up poor, sometimes homeless, in New York City.

She never forgot her roots in New York, where she was raised by her Yiddish-speaking mother. Shapiro continued to speak Yiddish in a language group and study Jewish culture throughout her life.

In addition to Marcy, she is survived by her other daughter, Elsa Shapiro of St. Paul; sister Ella Gerber of New York; two grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.

Her husband, Solomon, a psychologist, died in 1976.

A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. next Sunday. at Hodroff-Epstein Memorial Chapel, 126 E. Franklin Av., Minneapolis.

Ben Cohen • bcohen@startribune.com