Lending light to countries lamps: a tribute to Judge Norma Levy Shapiro.

• Jurisdiction: United States
• Author: O'Connor, Sandra Day
• Date: 01 November 2003

There is a sad but common misconception in our society that time and energy contributed to others is time and energy lost. Rare is the individual with the perspective to recognize that we may give without losing, and that it is often in giving that we gain.

Judge Norma Shapiro is such an individual. In a career that has spanned more than five remarkable decades, Judge Shapiro has demonstrated a sincere selflessness that is immeasurable in its impact. She has said that one of her favorite quotations is from the ancient Roman official Gaius, who poignantly noted that "[o]ne who helps the wandering traveler does, as it were, light another's lamp by their own, and it gives no less light because it helped another." (1) And indeed, as we pay tribute to her extraordinary professional and personal accomplishments, we cannot help but recognize the countless lamps to which she has lent her light.

When she began law school in 1948, Judge Shapiro was one of only eight women in her class at the University of Pennsylvania. As one whose timing and...