Lenore Janis, 86, a New York contractor and forceful and colorful industry advocate since the 1970s for women's equality on jobsites and management, died Jan. 31 in Brookfield, Conn., of COVID-19, according to The New York Times.
Janis, who fought for a management role in her own family’s steel fabrication firm, also founded ERA Steel Construction. She lobbied New York Gov. Mario Cuomo in 1983 for a 5% goal of women contractors on state-funded projects and co-founded in 1980 the national lobbying group Professional Women in Construction, serving as its president from 1995 until 2015.