[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 99 (Friday, June 16, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1276]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO DR. ERWIN HOWARD BRAFF

                                 ______


                          HON. LYNN C. WOOLSEY

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, June 16, 1995

  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor Dr. Erwin Howard 
Braff, who passed away on May 21, 1995. He was 71 years of age.
  Dr. Braff was director of communicable diseases in San Francisco when 
the AIDS epidemic reached the Nation's consciousness. In fact, Dr. 
Braff supervised the individual who first alerted the gay community to 
the public health threat of AIDS. Erwin Braff served the department of 
health for 29 years until his retirement in 1984, as director of 
communicable diseases. Later, Dr. Braff played a leading role in 
passage of an anti-HIV/AIDS discrimination ordinance in Tiburon.
  Erwin Braff served in the Army Air Corps during World War II, 
attended the University of California, Los Angeles, and began medical 
school at the University of California, San Francisco. After finishing 
medical school, he received a master's degree in public health from 
Johns Hopkins University and worked for the department of health in 
Tacoma, WA.
  Erwin Braff was an active volunteer on the American Civil Liberties 
Union's San Francisco Hotline; a member of the California Democratic 
Central Committee; a member of the Health Council of Marin; Marin AIDS 
Advisory Commission; American Jewish Committee; and Marin Interfaith 
Council; board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council and 
treasurer of the Marin AIDS Political Action Committee. He was twice 
nominated for the Human Rights Commission's Martin Luther King Award.
  Mr. Speaker, Marin County, and this Nation owes a great deal of 
gratitude for the tireless efforts of Dr. Erwin Howard Braff over the 
years. He was a friend and will be missed by all of us who knew him. I 
extend my condolences to his wife, Janet and his two sons Mitch and 
David.

                          ____________________