[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 190 (Wednesday, December 7, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Page S7016]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Remembering O'Dell Owens

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in honoring 
Dr. O'Dell Owens, a champion of public health and public education in 
Cincinnati whom we lost last month. He was a longtime friend, longtime 
activist, longtime Ohioan, a public servant, and a trailblazer.
  Dr. Owens' story and his unwavering dedication to the public good 
serves as an example for all us in Southwest Ohio, throughout Ohio, 
throughout the Midwest, and throughout the country. So much of his work 
was aimed at empowering young people of color and encouraging them to 
recognize their potential by staying in school and attending college.
  He often shared a memory from his year as a ninth grader. A college 
counselor said he was ``too poor and too dumb to go to college.'' 
Imagine a counselor saying that. Dr. Owens proved that counselor and 
everyone who didn't believe in him--he proved them wrong. He graduated 
from college; he got a masters and a medical degree from Yale 
University. He completed his fellowship at Harvard Medical School.
  After gathering degrees and credentials that provided him with 
opportunities anywhere in the world, Dr. Owens returned to his home in 
Cincinnati where he spent his career serving his community. He was a 
pioneering fertility specialist at the University of Cincinnati Medical 
Center. He became the first African American to hold office in Hamilton 
County when he was elected the county coroner.
  He served as president of Cincinnati State Technical and Community 
College. That is where I worked with him the most closely. He served as 
the Hamilton County interim health commissioner and as president of the 
nonprofit Interact for Health.
  His work always came back to his community and extended far outside 
of medicine. He sat on the boards of various organizations and 
foundations, including the University of Cincinnati, the National 
Underground Railroad Freedom Center--the only one of its kind in 
America. It is an extraordinary place. Anyone anywhere in the vicinity 
of my part of the Midwest should visit it--and the Federal Reserve Bank 
of Cleveland's Cincinnati Business Advisory Council.
  He was chairman of the Cincinnati Preschool Promise. He volunteered 
as chair of the annual children's Cincinnati Educational Television 
Action Auction in support of Cincinnati's public television 
programming.
  Dr. Owens empowered each of us to make the world a better place, and 
he so succeeded. He reached out to me and my office to make sure we 
were paying close attention to issues impacting people in Cincinnati.

  He was a very talented speaker known for his passionate delivery--
always, always standing up for what he believed in. He was well-
respected. He was dearly loved throughout our State for his courage 
and--what I would like most to think about--his moral clarity.
  He took care of Cincinnati. I join our entire community in expressing 
gratitude for his lifetime of service. Today we recommit to his 
example.
  Our thoughts are with the Owens family and with all those who knew 
and loved him.