Dates

• Existence: 1932-

Biography

Naomi Spark Novick, mayor of Iowa City from 1996 to 1997, was born in Chicago in 1932 to Kay and Samuel Spark. Her mother was a homemaker and her father worked in commercial printing as a machinery operator. Naomi Spark earned a BS from the University of Illinois in 1955 and married Melvin Novick in 1957. From 1955 to 1959, Novick worked for Formfit Company, helping with their bra and girdle size standardization efforts. The Novicks and their children lived in North Carolina, New Jersey and Wales before moving to Iowa City in 1970. She was involved in local and state organizations such as the League of Women Voters of Johnson County and the University of Iowa Art Museum, where she worked as a docent for several years. Following Melvin Novick´s death in 1986, she helped establish the Melvin R. Novick Award in Education Measurement and Statistics and the University of Iowa. Novick served on the Iowa City City Council from 1990 to 1997. She was chosen twice by her fellow council members to serve as mayor.

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