Gayle Peters Melich; Advocate for Women, Political Activist

Like her sister-in-law Tanya Melich, who wrote "The Republican War Against Women" (1996), Ms. Melich became a fallen-away Republican. "She has had absolutely nothing to do with the party for the last two election cycles and voted for the Democrats," her husband said.

Ms. Melich, who was born in Gainesville, Fla., graduated from Arizona State University in Tempe and worked in San Francisco and New York, where she stopped driving. She never took it up again.

She married and moved to Washington in 1971.

She moved to northwest Florida in 1989 and formed the Okaloosa County Commission on the Status of Women, then started its hall of fame for local women who had improved the status of women in the area.

Ms. Melich was co-manager of the 1997 and 1998 Global Summit of Women, an gathering of female business, professional and government leaders, and edited the proceedings of both events. She also worked as a consultant and adviser to Irene Natividad, the former chair of the National Commission on Working Women.

"Gayle was quick with the quip, witty with the pen and pithy but incisive in her analysis. She used those skills in her work to ensure that women had their place in the sun. She has earned her own place in the pantheon of American women who have made a difference for others," Natividad said.

Ms. Melich enjoyed the arts, travel and doing crossword puzzles in ink.

In addition to her husband, survivors include her father, Carlton P. Peters, and her brother, Stan Peters, both of Niceville.