Healthcare-NOW! Mourns the Loss of Our Founder and National Coordinator, Marilyn Clement
The entire Healthcare-NOW community mourns the loss of Marilyn Clement, Healthcare-NOW!’s Founder and National Coordinator, who died this morning, Monday, August 3, 2009.
A passionate and untiring advocate for social justice, her leadership in the movement to make health care a human right inspired us all.
Healthcare-NOW is gathering information for a more detailed statement about her life and work that we will post tomorrow, Tuesday, August 4, 2009.
Dear Marilyn,
I never knew you or met you, but you inspired me every time I received an email from you about health care reform. I will miss seeing your name on those emails, but I will never forget you. We will win the fight for you!
This is such tragic news. The single payer healthcare movement has lost a strong soldier today. Words cannot express what a loss this is for us. As usual, I haven’t heard anything in the media re this tragic event as there never is anything covered if it has anything to do with single payer or it’s advocates.
Marilyn was a tireless advocate, not only on universal health care but other social justice issues as well.
Marilyn joined us to speak in Glens Falls two years in support of single payer at the first hearing of the Governor’s Task Force on Universal Health Care.
She was always pushing us to do more to win single payer.
I first encountered Marilyn in 1980 when along with Arthur Kinoy and Rev. Lucius Walker she pushed the Citizens Party to adopt a more grassroots oriented approach to kick off its inaugural campaign rather than just promoting a top down organizing approach around the Presidential campaign of environmentalist Barry Commoner. At the time she was Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
She never worried about being the lone voice in the wilderness, because she knew that once she started more voices would join the chorus.
OK let’s do this for Marilyn.
I’m so sorry to hear about Marilyn. It is a great loss for her family and many friends, and for the movement for social justice. May our reverence for those who worked to make our world better help strengthen our determination to do the same.