Judge Miriam E. Wolff, a trailblazer in the legal profession who rose to become the first woman to head the Port of San Francisco, died Monday.

Wolff, who lived in Los Gatos in her later years, was 102.

She was one of just three women in Stanford Law School’s graduating class of 1940, said family friend Brooksley Born.

“Only 20 years after women won the right to vote in this country, Judge Miriam Wolff was among a small vanguard of women who attended law school, led a highly successful law career with many firsts, and helped pave the way for women to excel in the field of law,” Stanford Law School Dean M. Elizabeth Magill said in a statement. “Stanford Law School is exceedingly proud to call her one of our alumni and she will truly be missed.”

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A 1970 profile of Wolff in The Chronicle, headlined “At ease in a man’s world,” detailed how she held positions that were typically occupied by men and wasn’t worried about supervising a staff of mostly men at the port. Wolff was chief counsel for the San Francisco Port Authority before becoming port director in 1970, a position she held for five years.

“There are a lot of large meetings that I have attended as the only woman,” Wolff told The Chronicle.

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Retired Judge LaDoris Cordell, who met Wolff when she became a judge on the Santa Clara County Municipal Court in 1982, said Wolff taught her many of her judicial skills. Wolff was supportive of Cordell’s career, and the two remained friends, with Cordell interviewing Wolff for an oral history with the American Bar Association in 2007.

“She wasn’t physically big in stature, but boy, she was very, very smart,” Cordell said. “She could stand up for herself and for women. … She wasn’t afraid to be who she was and get out there and do the work.”