Sarah Goddard Power

Who was Sarah Goddard Power?

Sarah Goddard Power was a United States Democratic Party activist and University of Michigan Regent who committed suicide by falling out a window at the Burton Tower on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor.

Born in Detroit in 1935 and a graduate from Vassar College, Goddard also received a diploma in French at the Alliance Francaise in Paris and a master's degree in politics and international relations from New York University in 1965. After serving as an executive assistant on Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller's personal staff from 1959 to 1963, she married newspaper publisher Phillip Power. From 1966 to 1969, Sarah Power was executive director of the New York City Commission for the United Nations and Consular Corps in the administration of Mayor John V. Lindsay. She chaired the U.S. national commission for UNESCO, and was a delegate to four worldwide United Nations-related conferences.

Elected a University of Michigan Regent in 1974, she was a supporter of Jimmy Carter and served as a delegate to Democratic National Convention in 1976. In 1980, Carter named her deputy assistant secretary of state for human rights and social affairs, U.S. Department of State, a position she held until 1981, when she returned to the university.