[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 135 (Friday, September 19, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1476-E1477]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         A TRIBUTE TO HONOR THE LIFE OF KATHRYN CARANLIK SIMON

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 18, 2014

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor the life of a precious friend 
and an extraordinarily accomplished and loving woman, Kathryn Caranlik 
Simon, who died on September 17, 2014, at the age of 62.
  A native of San Francisco and raised in South San Francisco, Kathy 
owned her own public affairs consulting business through which she 
worked as a community relations strategist, building and winning public 
support and approval of several high-profile projects. She played an 
instrumental role in several prominent San Francisco Peninsula 
development projects, including the Bay Meadows residential and retail 
complex in San Mateo, the IKEA store in East Palo Alto and the 
substantial renovation of Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City.
  A graduate of Skyline College in San Bruno and San Jose State 
University, where she obtained a Bachelor's degree in public relations, 
Kathy Simon began her career at Ampex in Redwood City, worked at 
Shaklee Corp. in Emeryville, and for local public relations agencies 
before launching her own public affairs consulting business, Simon 
Communications.
  Through her firm she partnered with other leading consultants 
specializing in strategic communications with residents to win support 
and approval for many of the Peninsula's high-profile, and often 
controversial, projects. She also was a key campaign advisor and 
communications strategist for local elected officials.
  Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1991, Kathy was among the organizers 
of the Community Breast Health Project, a Palo Alto-based organization 
dedicated to providing information, treatment options and mammograms to 
breast cancer patients. The group recently expanded its charter to 
other cancers and was recently renamed Bay Area Cancer Connections.
  Active in the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Cross in Belmont, Ms. 
Simon was a member of the Board of Directors of Philoptochos, a women's 
organization that engages in community-based charitable works.
  A resident of Redwood City for more than three decades, Ms. Simon is 
survived by her lifelong love, her husband, Mark, an executive with a 
local transit agency; her sons, David of New York City and Alex of 
Redwood City; her daughter-in-law, Jeanette O'Donoghue Simon; two 
granddaughters, Dylan Rose Simon and Sloane Kathryn Simon; two sisters, 
Elaine Adams of Santa Cruz and Beverly Heppler of Concord; and many 
nieces and nephews.
  Kathy Simon's beloved husband Mark perfectly captured the essence of 
Kathy in his description of her as a woman of extraordinary courage, 
with an unstinting heart of gold and a fierce and proud love for her 
family and friends. I consider myself deeply privileged to have known 
Kathy and to have called her my friend.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in extending our most 
sincere condolences to the Simon family. Kathy Simon was a special 
person who has been taken from us too soon, but her life was a gift to 
each person who had

[[Page E1477]]

the privilege to know her. Our community and our country were blessed 
and strengthened by her time with us.

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