Elouise C Cobell

Heroine to American Indians for leading a 15-year legal battle that ended with the federal government’s agreeing to pay $3.4 billion in compensation for mismanagement of Indian trust funds since the late 1800s. More than 300,000 members of many tribes will receive payments under the settlement. Ms. Cobell, whose Indian name was Yellow Bird Woman and who was a great-granddaughter of a renowned tribal leader, Mountain Chief, was the lead plaintiff in Cobell v. Salazar. The case, the name of which changed over the years as successive interior secretaries took office (the current secretary is Ken Salazar), was filed in 1996. It was settled in December 2009 and received a federal judge’s final approval on June 20 of this year after President Obama signed legislation passed by Congress. In the years after filing the lawsuit, she was a major fund-raiser in support of the case. She also contributed part of the $310,000 she received as a “genius grant” in 1997 from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Born Elouise Pepion on Nov. 5, 1945, she was one of eight children of Polite and Catherine Pepion. She graduated from Great Falls Business College and later attended Montana State University. With her husband, Alvin, Ms. Cobell operated a farm on the Blackfeet reservation, raising cattle and crops. Besides her husband, she is survived by a son, Turk; a brother, Dale Pepion; three sisters, Julene Kennerly, Joy Ketah and Karen Powell; and two grandchildren. In 1987, Ms. Cobell helped found Blackfeet National Bank, the first American bank owned by a tribe, which is now Native American Bank, based in Denver. She served as director of the Native American Community Development Corporation, the bank’s nonprofit affiliate. She was also former trustee of the National Museum of the American Indian.