Anne Nicol Gaylor

Anne Nicol Gaylor (November 25, 1926 – June 14, 2015) was an American atheist and reproductive rights advocate.

Anne Nicol graduated from high school at age 16 and earned an English degree from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in May, 1949.

She married Paul Joseph Gaylor later that year,[1] and they had four children: Andy, Annie Laurie, Ian, and Jamie.

[9] While working on abortion rights issues, Gaylor felt the need to address what she saw as the root cause of women's oppression: religion.

She felt that the existing women's rights organizations were not confronting this issue, so she founded the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) in 1976, along with her daughter Annie Laurie and John Sontarck.

[4] FFRF is a nonprofit organization that promotes the separation of church and state and educates the public on matters relating to atheism, agnosticism, and nontheism.

Under her leadership, the foundation was involved in several high-profile legal cases, including one that ended the teaching of Christian doctrine in a Tennessee public school[10] and another that overturned a law that made Good Friday a state holiday in Wisconsin.

[12] Gaylor's husband died of brain cancer in 2011,[13] and she moved into a retirement home outside of Madison, Wisconsin in 2012.