[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 87 (Tuesday, June 22, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7166-S7167]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

                                 ______
                                 

                        TRIBUTE TO TOBY GROSSMAN

 Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I take this opportunity to share 
with the Senate the memory of an extraordinary woman. Toby Grossman, of 
Albuquerque, NM, lost her battle with cancer on May 25, 2004. Her 
husband, Leonard, and daughter, Jennifer, survive her.
  Ms. Grossman was the senior staff attorney at the American Indian Law 
Center, Inc, the oldest existing Indian-controlled and operated legal 
and public policy organization in the country, having joined the center 
in 1971. She also served as the administrator of the Southwest 
Intertribal Court of Appeals, a voluntary court of appeals available to 
tribes in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and west Texas.
  Ms. Grossman was a graduate of the University of Florida and the 
University of New Mexico School of Law, and

[[Page S7167]]

a member of the New Mexico Bar. A lecturer at the UNM School of Law, 
she regularly taught courses on the Indian Child Welfare Act and tribal 
government and she co-taught a course on Tribal-State relations. Ms. 
Grossman was a superb teacher. In class, she was serious, probing and 
enthusiastic. She set high standards for herself and expected the same 
from her students. Yet she was also friendly and caring in her 
relations with students, many of whom she remained close with long 
after they graduated.
  She specialized in child welfare issues including child abuse and 
neglect, drafting of tribal codes, as well as assisting several tribes 
in negotiating Tribal-State agreements on the Indian Child Welfare Act 
and trained social workers and judges on child welfare law. She also 
led the American Indian Law Center team that developed the first Model 
Children's Code for tribes, as well as Model Codes for Child Welfare, 
Adoption, and Prevention of Elder Abuse. In these and other areas, 
local, State and tribal governments, as well as attorneys, frequently 
sought her advice and services.
  Ms. Grossman's private life was no less exemplary than her public 
work. She was a good friend and was devoted to her synagogue. Despite 
the long hours she devoted to her professional and civic activities, 
she always found time to be a loving wife, mother, and friend.
  Toby Grossman was a remarkable person, who significantly influenced 
the law, her many students, the New Mexico legal community, and all of 
Indian country. Her work has improved the lives of numerous Indian 
children, most of whom she never had a chance to meet. She leaves 
behind an indelible mark on this world.

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