Ida Schmertz, a pioneering feminist and corporate executive who co-founded the first academic center dedicated to the study of women in American politics, died on July 2 in Manhattan. She was 91. Her daughter, Lexy Schmertz, said the cause of death was kidney failure.

In 1971, Schmertz, along with Ruth Mandel, an English professor at Rutgers University, established the Center for American Women and Politics at the Eagleton Institute of Politics. The center, recognized as a leading research institution in the field, was created during a time when the presence and impact of women in political office were not widely studied or understood. Schmertz recalled in later interviews that the subject of women in politics was virtually nonexistent within political science at the time.

The initiative was supported by Donald Herzberg, then head of the Eagleton Institute, despite skepticism from other academics. In 1972, Schmertz and Mandel organized the first national conference for female state legislators, a key moment linking the burgeoning women’s movement with electoral politics. This event aimed to amplify women's voices in male-dominated political institutions.

Schmertz also commissioned a study of the conference by political scientist Jeane Kirkpatrick, which resulted in the publication "Political Woman" in 1974. This work helped establish the field of women and politics as a legitimate area of academic inquiry.

After leaving the center in 1975, Schmertz served as an adviser on women’s issues to New York Governor Hugh L. Carey. She played a role in efforts that led to the hiring of New York’s first female dockworkers in 1979. The same year, she joined American Express, eventually becoming one of the company’s first female senior vice presidents and serving as head of corporate affairs for nearly a decade.

Born Ida Frederika Schaap in Amsterdam on February 24, 1935, she and her family fled Europe during World War II, ultimately settling near Philadelphia. She graduated from Wellesley College in 1956 with a degree in political science and later earned a master’s degree in international relations and Russian studies from Columbia University in 1960. Early in her career, Schmertz worked briefly for the CIA and participated as a Russian-speaking guide at the 1959 American National Exhibition in Moscow, an event known for the Cold War-era “kitchen debate.”

Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Schmertz returned to Russia to assist women entrepreneurs as an investment consultant. In 1994, President Bill Clinton appointed her founding chair of the Romanian-American Enterprise Fund, a nonprofit supporting Romania's transition to a market economy. She held that role until her retirement in 2018.

Battling chronic lymphocytic leukemia and autoimmune diseases from the mid-1990s, Schmertz later advocated for legislative access to medical aid in dying for terminally ill patients in New York. The state’s Medical Aid in Dying Act was signed into law in February 2023 and will take effect in August.

She is survived by her two children, four grandsons, and two sisters. Schmertz’s contributions touched politics, business, and international development, earning her recognition as an influential mentor and advocate for women’s advancement across multiple fields.