[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 69 (Monday, April 29, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E493]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                  CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF RUTH PASSEN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 29, 2019

  Ms. PELOSI. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a beautiful 
life. Ruth Passen was a pioneer of community journalism, a champion for 
social justice and a strong voice for our American values of equality, 
fairness and progress. Her passing is a great official loss for our San 
Francisco community and a deep personal loss for all who were blessed 
to call her friend.
  Ruth Passen was a San Franciscan through and through. Born and raised 
in the city of Saint Francis, she dedicated herself to being an 
``instrument of peace'' and spent a lifetime sowing love, hope, light 
and joy in our community and around the world.
  Ruth made a difference in so many ways. Together with her dear 
friend, the late, legendary Enola Maxwell, Ruth helped build the 
Potrero Hill Neighborhood House, known as the Nabe, into a 
transformative beacon of hope, healing and help for so many in our 
community. Understanding the unifying power of the arts, Ruth was also 
an inspired, effective force in bringing her beloved jazz and theater 
to the Nabe and our wider Bay Area community.
  Ruth earned the deep respect of all as an innovator and a leader of 
local journalism. In 1970, she made history as she launched the Potrero 
View, which has become San Francisco's longest running community 
newspaper, as well as one of its most respected. Ruth's visionary 
leadership over four decades has brought local news and community 
services to countless families in our City, and has helped set the 
standard for editorial integrity in the field.
  All San Franciscans can take great pride in the progress that Ruth 
advanced for equality, fairness and freedom around the world. She 
worked tirelessly to bring peace and justice to communities in need, 
first through the Women's International League of Peace and Freedom 
during the 1960s and 70s, and then through her work with the people of 
El Salvador in the 1980s.
  She brought that same persistence and dedication to progress to the 
labor movement, where along with her late respected and remarkable 
husband Joe, she was a fearless voice for the rights of working men and 
women throughout the West Coast, on the waterfront, in the farms and in 
all workplaces. Through their involvement in Young Democrats, Ruth and 
Joe also helped bring more progressive voices to Washington, ensuring 
that the People's House would serve the American people.
  San Francisco and America have been blessed by the life and 
leadership of Ruth Passen. May it be a comfort to her son Marc, 
daughter-in-law Dianne, granddaughters Natalie and Teresa, and all her 
loved ones that Ruth and her beloved Joe have been reunited. May it 
also be a comfort that so many mourn with and pray for them during this 
sad time.

                          ____________________