Regular Session 2015-2016 House Resolution 0591 P.N. 2548

PRINTER'S NO. 2548

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA

HOUSE RESOLUTION

No.

591

Session of

2015

INTRODUCED BY FRANKEL, BISHOP, DiGIROLAMO, COHEN, CALTAGIRONE,

HENNESSEY, KIRKLAND, YOUNGBLOOD, DRISCOLL, JAMES, SNYDER,

KINSEY, WHEATLEY, FREEMAN, MACKENZIE, BRIGGS, VEREB,

D. MILLER, HAHN, MATZIE, ROZZI, MUSTIO, WHEELAND, THOMAS,

MURT, ROEBUCK, BIZZARRO, MARSHALL, D. COSTA, J. HARRIS,

KILLION, DONATUCCI, GINGRICH, KLUNK, A. HARRIS, SAYLOR,

GIBBONS, WATSON, JOZWIAK, MARSICO, BARBIN, READSHAW, PICKETT,

P. DALEY, GROVE, DEASY, PAYNE, SCHWEYER, NEILSON, MAHONEY,

MAJOR, ROSS, SANKEY, FARINA, BRADFORD, DEAN, D. PARKER,

V. BROWN, GAINEY, QUINN, P. COSTA, FABRIZIO, ADOLPH,

RAVENSTAHL, CARROLL, MILLARD, MAHER, MARKOSEK, DAVIS,

GODSHALL, HARHAI, KORTZ, GERGELY, STEPHENS, KIM, ENGLISH,

WARD, PASHINSKI, NEUMAN AND BARRAR, NOVEMBER 18, 2015

INTRODUCED AS NONCONTROVERSIAL RESOLUTION UNDER RULE 35,

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

A RESOLUTION

Honoring the extraordinary life and dedicated service of Elsie

Hillman and expressing condolences on her death.

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman, the daughter of Thomas Jones Hilliard

and Marianna Talbott Hilliard, was born in Pittsburgh on

December 9, 1925; and

WHEREAS, Like the title of the recent University of

Pittsburgh Institute of Politics' case study about her by

Katherine McCauley, "Never a Spectator," implies, Elsie Hillman

spent her entire life in service to her community; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman led by example through her engagement

in groundbreaking leadership in public service, showing an

extensive and profound commitment to her community; and

WHEREAS, Each decade of Elsie Hillman's public life

exemplified the ways in which she dedicated her time, energy and

resources for the betterment of western Pennsylvania and this

entire Commonwealth; and

WHEREAS, In the 1940s, during World War II, Elsie Hillman

began her volunteer career by cleaning instruments for surgeries

at Eye and Ear Hospital in Pittsburgh, selling war bonds and

knitting socks for soldiers; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman went to Westminster Choir College in

Princeton, New Jersey, to study piano and voice and met Henry

Hillman, a United States Navy pilot originally from Pittsburgh,

stationed at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York; and

WHEREAS, Once married, Henry and Elsie Hillman moved back to

Pittsburgh after the end of World War II; and

WHEREAS, In the 1950s, Elsie Hillman began her involvement

with the Republican Party by volunteering for the Eisenhower for

President Campaign and becoming a Republican committee member

from the 1st district, 14th ward of the City of Pittsburgh; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman joined the Board of Trustees of the

Ellis School and the Pittsburgh Symphony Society and began

volunteering at WQED Public Television; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman participated in groundbreaking

advocacy for religious and interracial inclusion in Pittsburgh's

cultural and business community; and

WHEREAS, In the 1960s, Elsie Hillman continued her steady

involvement in politics by assisting numerous campaigns and

committees culminating in her election as chairman of the

Republican Committee of Allegheny County in 1967, making her the

first female chair of a major political party in an urban

environment; and

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WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman became the Vice President of the Urban

League of Pittsburgh, joined the Allegheny County Anti-Poverty

Advisory Council as assistant treasurer and became the first

Protestant to join the all-Catholic Board of Directors at Carlow

University; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman was recognized as the Squirrel Hill

Kiwanis "Woman of the Year" Community Service Award winner and

received the Wheeler School Award for Community Service; and

WHEREAS, In the 1970s, Elsie Hillman chaired several

congressional, gubernatorial, Senate and Presidential campaigns

in this Commonwealth for John Heinz, Richard Thornburg, Gerald

Ford and George H.W. Bush, and was elected to represent

Pennsylvania on the Republican National Committee; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman helped start the Squirrel Hill Urban

Coalition, became the Vice President of the Symphony Society and

joined the Board of Directors for the Shadyside Hospital

Foundation; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman's unique contributions were recognized

by a New Pittsburgh Courier "Top Hat" Award for her work on

behalf of minorities and the poor and the Junior Chamber of

Commerce Community Service Award; and

WHEREAS, In the 1980s, Elsie Hillman served as the cochair

for the Pennsylvania campaigns of Presidents Reagan and Bush,

Senator Arlen Specter and other Statewide efforts, served as a

member of the White House Fellowship Commission and the

Presidential Drug Advisory Committee, and provided her unique

leadership to the entire nation as the Chair of the Presidential

Transition Advisory Committee in 1988 and 1989; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman also showed unprecedented professional

and personal leadership and commitment in health care through

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her role as the Vice Chairman of the University of Pittsburgh

Cancer Institute; her support to the Pittsburgh AIDS Task Force;

her sponsorship of the "Art for AIDS" auction to benefit the

Persad Center, the nation's second oldest mental health center

for the LGBT community; and her personal efforts to bring

dinners, flowers and comfort to dying AIDS patients during the

early years of this disease; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman's service was recognized by numerous

organizations, including, but not limited to, the Sara Frazer

Ellis Award from the Ellis School, the W.P. Young Award from the

Black Republican Council of Pennsylvania and a Woman of the Year

Award from the Pittsburgh chapter of Vector International; and

WHEREAS, In the 1990s, Elsie Hillman continued her extensive

involvement in the Republican Party, cochairing Presidential and

gubernatorial efforts for President Bush and Governor Ridge and

representing the United States in the international arena; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman's civic involvement continued through

her efforts to establish the southwestern Pennsylvania chapter

of the Interfaith Alliance, the Calvary Episcopal Church

Outreach Committee, the establishment of the Elsie Awards for

WQED, cochairing the Regional Renaissance Initiative, helping to

create the Center for Women in Politics at Chatham College with

the Elsie Hilliard Hillman Chair position and becoming the

cochairman of the Home Rule Campaign to change the government

structure of Allegheny County; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman received honorary degrees from Carlow

University, Carnegie Mellon University, Chatham College,

Duquesne University, Point Park University, Robert Morris

University, Waynesburg College and Westminster Choir College;

and

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WHEREAS, Since 2000, Elsie Hillman was active in the efforts

to elect Governor Corbett, and her contributions to her

community seemed to know no limits, championing the Riverlife

Task Force, helping create the New Pittsburgh Collaborative,

cochairing the Pittsburgh Financial Leadership Committee and

helping lead the 2004 "Save Our Summers" campaign that reopened

the Pittsburgh's city swimming pools; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman also helped tens of thousands of

families facing the challenge of cancer through her leadership

and financial support of the life-saving Hillman Cancer Center

in Pittsburgh; and

WHEREAS, There have been several salutes to Elsie Hillman's

extraordinary life and dedicated service including the Frieda

Shapira Medal from the Forbes Fund, the creation of the Elsie

Hillman Life Time Civic Achievement Award by the University of

Pittsburgh Institute of Politics, the award of the 2013 National

Champion from the Dignity and Respect Campaign, the creation of

the Elsie H. Hillman Student Award for Public Service by

Philadelphia University's Arlen Specter's Center for Public

Service, Rider University's Sesquicentennial Medal of Excellence

Award and the outstanding lifetime achievement award from the

Community College of Allegheny County's Legends in Leadership;

and

WHEREAS, At the time of her passing on August 4, 2015, at 89

years of age, Elsie Hillman was chair of the Elsie H. Hillman

Foundation, a trustee of the Hillman Family Foundations, cochair

of the UPCI and UPMC Cancer Center Council, and a board member

of WQED, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Hill House

Association and director emeritus of several more organizations

and universities; and

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WHEREAS, Between her and her family's many other charitable

activities, there is an incalculable positive effect on the

lives of people who live in western Pennsylvania; and

WHEREAS, While Elsie Hillman 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; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman was a generous philanthropist and

activist who strongly advocated for interfaith action, women's

rights, the rights of minorities and the rights of the LGBT

community; and

WHEREAS, Her contributions to her community continue today in

the legacy of her leadership and the institutions she helped

create and sponsor; and

WHEREAS, Elsie Hillman's record of pushing the limits of how

much good a single person can do in her lifetime to better her

community through public, civic and political involvement is

unsurpassed in the history of this Commonwealth; therefore be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives honor the

extraordinary life and dedicated service of Elsie Hillman and

extend condolences to her family, including her loving husband

of 70 years, Henry, children, Lea Simonds, Audrey Fisher, Henry

Hillman, Jr., and Bill Hillman, nine grandchildren and fourteen

great-grandchildren; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this resolution be transmitted to

the family of Elsie Hillman.

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