|
Obituary Index Family Obituaries Home
A page in
the Family Website for the following Family Names and their Descendents and
Friends: Garon - Kaner/Karon/Canner - Horwitz - Lieberman/Kremen – Hertz - Fritchell - Tatkin - Pasternack/Poster |
|
Star
Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN) - March 16, 2001 Deceased
Name: Judith Rivkin, 63, advocate for special-needs children Judith
Rivkin, a longtime advocate for children with disabilities, died of breast
cancer Wednesday at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park. She was 63. Her husband,
Sheldon, of Minneapolis, said she was led to her work partly by frustration
over lack of services in the 1960s for their daughter Jackie, who had a
learning disability. Determined to improve Minnesota's services for children
with special needs, Rivkin became involved in the Minnesota Association for
Children with Learning Disabilities (MACLD), working on social and legal
issues with families and legislators. Marge
Goldberg, who helped found the PACER Center, now the preeminent state
advocacy coalition for disabled kids, met Rivkin in 1973 while working with
MACLD. "This was the era before special education," Goldberg said.
"There was darn little to help families . . . so we had our work cut out
for us." 1975 brought
passage of the federal law granting equal educational opportunities for
children with special needs. Minnesota followed with a pioneering state law,
and Rivkin was instrumental in helping implement it as a lobbyist and
negotiator, Goldberg said. In 1977,
Goldberg left MACLD to cofound PACER. Rivkin joined its board as its first
president and began lobbying for the group. Barb Sorum,
a retired advocate with PACER, said Rivkin "was on the ground
floor" in establishing and implementing laws on behalf of disabled
children. "She's one of the reasons for Minnesota's success today,"
Sorum said. Larry
Ringer, an attorney with the U.S. Department of Education in Washington,
D.C., met Rivkin in 1982 while working for the Legal Aid Society of
Minneapolis. "Judy was so gently courageous," he said. "She
helped me understand how important parents are in this work, and how
important it is that [special-needs] kids be part of the community." Rivkin
retired in about 1993, Goldberg said. "She continued to be a wonderful
friend. She had a great, unusual laugh that you could hear all the way to
Anoka. I'll never forget that laugh," she said. Besides her
husband, Rivkin is survived by children Jackie, Jill and Jeff, all of
Minneapolis, and a sister, Marcee Kain of Apple Valley. A memorial service
was held Thursday. The writer
can be contacted at pmiller@startribune.com. Star
Tribune: Newspaper of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis, MN) |
|
Obituaries Index People List Home |