[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 150 (2004), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3570]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO MARY F. DIAZ

 Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, last month, this Nation suffered 
the tragic loss of one of its most effective and most compassionate 
advocates for women and children throughout the world.
  Mary Diaz was only 43 when she died on February 12 in New York after 
a long battle of cancer. I know she will be profoundly missed by all 
who knew her and worked with her and were helped by her.
  For the last 10 years, Mary was executive director of the Women's 
Commission for Refugee Women and Children, an affiliate of the 
International Rescue Committee. She was there whenever she was needed 
and wherever she was needed--in Serbia or Angola or Rwanda or Pakistan 
or Nepal or Haiti and in many other places, often putting her own 
safety at risk to see firsthand the hardships of women and children 
displaced by war or fleeing persecution.
  After each of her travels, Mary would return and eloquently share the 
stories of those she saw who needed help the most. She met with 
lawmakers and government agencies to urge them to respond. She worked 
with President Clinton to create a fund for refugee women in Bosnia. 
Visiting Tanzania, she worked to change the rules allowing Burundian 
women to distribute food with the men. Even in the all too short time 
she had, Mary inspired us all with her dedicated and tireless work on 
behalf of the disenfranchised.
  It is easy to see where Mary learned her passion for helping others. 
Her father was a doctor and her mother is a nurse. Her two brothers are 
doctors. One sister is an inner-city teacher and another is a 
librarian. After studying international relations at Brown University, 
Mary worked for a television station in Philadelphia and volunteered in 
her free time to help refugees settle in the city. As her interest in 
helping refugees grew, she enrolled at Harvard to pursue a master's 
degree in international education. A few years later, she became 
director of refugee and immigration services for Catholic Charities in 
Boston.
  She was always there to help. Once, when 112 Haitian children arrived 
in Boston on a military plane, Mary was there to greet them with a 
friendly face. The children had lost contact with their families. They 
were barefoot, in a country they had never seen before. Mary comforted 
them, and took them to eat at a local restaurant called Buzzy's 
Fabulous Roast Beef. After that, she took them to a local swimming 
pool, and then she began the effort to reunite them with their families 
or place them in foster care. Stories like this about Mary are well 
known to all her colleagues.
  Last year, Mary was honored for her work in protecting the rights of 
refugee women by Rudd Lubbers, the United Nations High Commissioner on 
Refugees. When Commissioner Lubbers learned of Mary's death, he spoke 
for us all when he said that it ``left a void in the refugee and 
humanitarian world, where she touched many lives.''
  Sadly, Mary died too young. But she made the world a better place, 
and we will always have our warm memories of her and her inspiring 
legacy to guide us as we carry on her mission.

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