Lora "Skeets" Friedkin
Luckily for FAU, she spent much of this effort on multiple areas of the school. A member of the Stand with Friends board of directors, which was headed by her son, the president of the organization, she eventually helped merge the Lynn College of Nursing onto campus and started the Study of Neurological Disabilities on site. At the inception of Stand with Friends, she personally wrote 350 letters to gather money for disability awareness, eventually raising up to $300,000. She also helped organize and participate in the yearly Boating and Beach Bash half marathon that’s well known by Boca Raton residents. Lora didn’t just dedicate her calling to disability focused organizations, however. She was a member of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Advisory Board at FAU, an Alliance Defending Freedom board member, and part of the National Organization for Women. She was part of the Political Action Committee for PPSPBC (Planned Parenthood of South Palm Beach County.) As a recipient of the Legendary Woman Award from FAU in 2016 with a posthumous induction into the 2024 Boca Raton Historical Society’s Walk of Recognition, Friedkin has been well honored by both the university and city she called home for the final decades of her life. Skeets' efforts to uplift unheard voices and raise awareness or funds for them goes to show the significance of intersectional activism in the university's history. The Lynn College of Nursing is now an incredibly populated school within FAU that produces hundreds of graduates each year. Though not someone who championed for our university academically or adminstratively, Friedkin was certainly indispensable to its success.