[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 132 (Wednesday, September 24, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1880-E1881]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               TRIBUTE TO THE LATE BENJAMIN H. ZIMMERMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. DENNIS MOORE

                               of kansas

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 24, 2003

  Mr. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the late 
Professor Benjamin H. Zimmerman of the University of Kansas, who died 
on September 4th.
  Ben Zimmerman was a well known community activist and human rights 
leader in the city of Lawrence, Kansas, throughout his career with the 
University of Kansas, where he served as a professor of social welfare 
for 13 years and was a resident for 25 years. In addition to being 
active in local, partisan politics, Ben Zimmerman actively supported 
the causes of civil rights based on race, gender and sexual 
orientation, child development, equality of economic opportunity, and 
broader public participation in the electoral process.
  Mr. Speaker, I am placing into the Record the obituary for Professor 
Zimmerman that was carried by the Lawrence Journal-World, as well as an 
article detailing a few of his many achievements supporting greater 
social justice in Lawrence, Kansas. All who knew him will continue to 
be inspired by Ben Zimmerman's devotion to serving his fellow Kansans, 
and many who never met him will benefit from his energetic, tireless 
work to expand human rights and individual opportunities for all.

         [From the Lawrence (KS) Journal-World, Sept. 7, 2003]

                        Benjamin Hyman Zimmerman

       Memorial services for Benjamin Hyman Zimmerman, 85, 
     Lawrence, are pending and will be announced by Warren-
     McElwain Mortuary. Private inurnment will be in Pioneer 
     Cemetery.
       Mr. Zimmerman died Thursday, Sept. 4, 2003, in Venice, 
     Calif.
       He was born April 25, 1918, in Syracuse, N.Y., the son of 
     Max and Esther S. (Rudevitsky) Zimmerman.
       He was valedictorian of his high school class in Syracuse. 
     He received a bachelor of arts degree from Syracuse 
     University in 1940 and was Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi and 
     magna cum laude. After serving in the U.S. Army in World War 
     II, he continued his education in anthropology at Columbia 
     University and received honors as a Gilder Fellow and Social 
     Science Research Fellow. He then did fieldwork in Brazil in 
     anthropology, working toward a doctorate degree.
       Mr. Zimmerman served on the staff advising or teaching at 
     several universities, including City College of New York, 
     Columbia University, University of Illinois and Yale 
     University. He had been a research director for United Way, 
     executive director for the Mayor's Commission for Youth Inc. 
     and executive director of Crusade for Opportunity Inc., all 
     in the Syracuse area. He also worked on national programs 
     including the Office of Economic Opportunity Community Action 
     Program as chief of program planning and the Day Care and 
     Child Development Council of America.
       He joined Kansas University as an associate professor in 
     1972 in the school of social welfare, where he worked until 
     he became associate professor emeritus in 1984.
       A resident of Lawrence for more than 25 years, Mr. 
     Zimmerman was chairman of the Discrimination Hearing Board 
     and faculty adviser for Gay Services of Kansas. He also 
     helped found the Day Care Coalition of Lawrence and Douglas 
     County, Lawrence Alliance, Freedom Coalition, Douglas County 
     AIDS Project, Simply Equal and Lawrence-Topeka P-FLAG. He 
     also served on the boards of the NAACP, Freedom Coalition and 
     League of Women Voters and co-chaired a committee that 
     monitored the changes in the Kansas Department of Social and 
     Rehabilitation Services.
       Survivors include a daughter, Anne Zimmerman, Sherman Oaks, 
     Calif., and his partner, David Scheuer, Lawrence.
       The family suggests memorials be held until an organization 
     is chosen.
       E-mail condolences may be sent at www.warrenmcelwain.com, 
     subject: Zimmerman.
                                  ____


         [From the Lawrence (KS) Journal-World, Sept. 7, 2003]

                      Longtime Activist Dies at 85

                           (By Tim Carpenter)

       Ben Zimmerman lived to the age of 85, but never lost the 
     passion of youth when it came to community activism.
       ``He was quite amazing,'' said Lynne Green, who, with 
     Zimmerman, co-chaired a campaign to amend the city of 
     Lawrence's discrimination policy. ``He had the fire in his 
     belly and the energy of a very young committed activist. He 
     was never an old man.''
       Zimmerman, a former associate professor of social welfare 
     at Kansas University and longtime Lawrence resident, died 
     Thursday in Venice, Calif.
       His fingerprints are on a long list of organizations and 
     projects designed to bring fairness to the lives of 
     unprotected people, said Ann Weick, dean of social welfare at 
     KU.
       ``He contributed so much to this community in terms of 
     issues of justice and equality,'' Green said. ``He was an 
     eloquent advocate for vulnerable groups and was really a 
     leader in our faculty during the time he was there in 
     focusing attention of the community on pressing issues of the 
     day.''
       In Lawrence, Zimmerman helped found the Day Care Coalition 
     of Lawrence and Douglas County, Lawrence Alliance, Freedom 
     Coalition, Douglas County AIDS Project, Simply Equal and 
     Lawrence-Topeka P-FLAG.
       He was on the boards of the NAACP, Freedom Coalition and 
     League of Women Voters.
       Zimmerman was active in social welfare activities in 
     Syracuse, N.Y., before joining the KU faculty in 1972.
       It was Zimmerman's role in the mid-1990s campaign to add 
     the words ``sexual orientation'' to the city's anti-
     discrimination ordinance that sticks in the memories of many 
     people in Lawrence. He was co-chair with Green of Simply 
     Equal, a coalition of more than 1,000 people that pressed for 
     the change.
       In 1995 the City Commission agreed, making Lawrence the 
     first city in Kansas to protect homosexuals from 
     discrimination in housing, employment or public 
     accommodations.
       At that time, Zimmerman proclaimed: ``Lawrence will not 
     tolerate bigotry.''
       Mike Silverman, chair of the Freedom Coalition, said 
     Zimmerman was a terrific leader.

[[Page E1881]]

       ``He was the public face of the Freedom Coalition for a 
     good deal of time,'' Silverman said.
       More recently, Zimmerman worked to help convince the 
     Lawrence school board to add ``gender identity'' to a list of 
     classes for which district employees have protection from 
     discrimination.

                          ____________________