She was born in Portland to Jewish immigrants and grew up in northeast Portland, at the poor end of lower middle class. She attended Grant High School and the
Northwestern School of Business. She was one of the first women to study law, and graduated from
Northwestern College of Law (at Lewis & Clark College) in 1939 and qualified for the
Oregon Bar. She worked as a lawyer until her appointment to the Portland City Council. In 1971, Portland still had two lunch spots closed to women. Schwab organized a sit-in at Perkins' Pub (in the basement of
Lipman-Wolfe), which succeeded in opening the establishment to women. She also was part of a small group (also including
Gretchen Kafoury) who opened
City Club of Portland to women. She was the first woman nominated to be a
Portland Rose Festival ambassador (or Royal Rosarian), though she declined the honor. Part of her time as city commissioner was in charge of the police and fire departments—Portland's equivalent of
police commissioner—for which she received great support. == References ==