[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13423-13424]
[From the U.S. 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-

[[Page 13424]]

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 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.

                          ____________________