Posted: | August 31, 2015 09:30 AM |
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From: | Representative Dan Frankel |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Condolence Resolution to honor the life of Elsie Hillman |
In the near future, I will introduce a resolution to honor the life and recognize the monumental achievements of Elsie Hillman, a philanthropist and civic leader in Western Pennsylvania who died at the age of 89 on August 4, 2015. Elsie Hillman was a constituent, an advisor and a friend. Although Elsie was a prominent and faithful Republican, she was also a champion of bipartisanship who worked with both political parties to accomplish great things for our region. I truly believe that she pushed the limits of how much good a single person can do in her lifetime to better her community. Elsie worked across all the barriers that divides us to improve the health of tens of thousands, the cultural lives of hundreds of thousands and the quality of lives of millions of people in Western Pennsylvanians. She was a generous philanthropist and activist who strongly advocated for women's rights as well as minorities and the LGBT community. At every age and in every endeavor, Elsie Hillman’s life provides examples of extraordinary dedication and service. As a teenager, Hillman cleaned instruments for surgeries at Eye and Ear Hospital in Pittsburgh, sold war bonds, and knitted socks for soldiers. Over the next four decades she became a strong advocate of public television, education and health care. She was a key supporter of WQED, Chatham University and helped create a world class cancer treatment center in Pittsburgh that was named after her, the Hillman Cancer Treatment Center. While her largest efforts fought the scourge of cancer, she recognized the onset of HIV in the 1980s, personally helping some of the earlier victims of this disease while creating community centers and helping to found the Pittsburgh AIDS Task force in 1985. Elsie's passing will be felt for some time, but the impact she made on people and on our community will last forever. I am introducing a resolution to honor her memory and recognize her many outstanding achievements, and I hope you will join me in support of this resolution. |
Introduced as HR591