Advocate

Michael T. McCarthy Sr., a longtime Electrolux vacuum cleaner salesman who helped foster children find homes in his retirement, died on Jan. 23 of sudden cardiac arrest at the Baltimore-Washington Medical Center. The longtime Cockeysville resident was 69. Raised in Philadelphia, the sixth of seven siblings, Mr. McCarthy graduated from North Catholic High School there in 1961 and spent about nine years, starting in his late teens, as a brother with the Oblates of St. Francis DeSales in Wernersville, Pa. There, he was responsible for taking care of the grounds and working on the farm, according to his daughter, Jennifer Jones.

Sunday, Oct. 21, we lost former U.S. Sen. George McGovern. Although many will recall his disastrous 1972 loss to Richard Nixon and his subsequent leadership in getting us out of Vietnam, his truly lasting legacy will be his war on hunger and malnutrition. In 1977, following extensive public hearings, McGovern's Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs published Dietary Goals for the United States, a precursor to today's Dietary Guidelines. It marked the first time that a U.S. government document recommended reduced meat consumption.

Paul F. Kelly, whose personal struggle with drug addiction left him HIV-positive and made him a nationally recognized advocate for those similarly afflicted, died Thursday of acquired immune deficiency syndrome at Fort Howard Veterans Hospital. He was 42.The Walbrook resident, who had grown up in the South Bronx in New York, became addicted at 12 and spent most of the next two decades addicted to drugs and alcohol. He recalled living in vacant buildings and eating from garbage cans until he had a religious conversion and sought a cure.

Rhoda B. Eskwith, who advocated social change to benefit those who were physically challenged, died Wednesday of heart failure at Sinai Hospital. She was 71.Stricken with multiple sclerosis while in her early 30s, she waged a campaign from her wheelchair to improve employment opportunities, transportation and housing for the disabled and was a familiar presence in Annapolis."

The Advocate Club of Baltimore, a non-profit organization that provides scholarships to local private schools for children from low-income families, recently elected the following officers: Richard S. Connell II of Insurco Group Inc., president; George W. Santos II of Manekin Corp., vice president; M. Kent Thomas of Katz, Abosch, Windesheim, Gershman & Freedman, treasurer; and Mike Paszkiewicz of Columbia Vending, secretary.The organization also elected the following to the board of directors: Bruce Alderman Jr. of Benchmark Capital Corp.

Kathleen Webster, a registered visiting nurse who was an advocate for the many homebound patients she attended, died of pancreatic cancer Saturday at Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care. The Hamilton resident was 45. Born Kathleen Magdelene Hulse in Chicago, she moved with her parents to Northeast Baltimore and was a 1979 graduate of Northern High School. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in psychology at Goucher College, where she later was a member of the alumni executive board, and her nursing degree from Baltimore City Community College.

Anne Arundel County Executive Janet S. Owens has been selected as a recipient of the 2003 National Association of School Psychologists' Outstanding Advocate Award. The award recognizes school psychologists, legislators and other advocates who demonstrate a commitment to improving the lives of children. Owens was recognized April 2 during the Anne Arundel County Board of Education meeting. A NASP committee selected award recipients based on demonstrated dedication to children and school psychology through legislative, public policy and advocacy activities.

Yvonne Annette Deaver Proch, an advocate for the disabled and an educator, died Sunday at Maryland General Hospital of complications from diabetes. The Columbia resident was 67. "She was an excellent wife, mother and fighter for the handicapped, the latter meaning a lot of personal sacrifice," said her husband of 45 years, Eugene M. Proch. Born in Detroit, she was a 1958 graduate of Ohio University, where she earned a degree in elementary education. She met her husband-to-be in college, and after graduation they moved to Montgomery County where she became an elementary school teacher while he took a job with the National Security Agency.

Jerome "Jack" Berlin, an auto supply business owner who became a state consumer affairs advocate, died Friday of an infection at Sinai Hospital. He was 77 and lived in Pikesville. In the mid-1950s, Mr. Berlin founded Acme Auto Supply in the garage of his brother's auto parts distributorship on Dolfield Avenue. Within 20 years, he had expanded the firm, moved it to Wabash Avenue and made it one of the city's larger auto supply houses. "He was stubborn, opinionated, confident and forceful," said his son, Gordon Louis Berlin of Brooklyn, N.Y. "He hired ex-cons when others would not, he hired people with disabilities, he hired women in nontraditional jobs.

WASHINGTON -- President-elect Bill Clinton's choice of Harvard professor Robert B. Reich to head his economic transition team gives the initiative to a political economist who advocates pump-priming, federal industrial planning, educational reform and reducing income disparity.Mr. Reich, 46, who is considered likely to fill one of the next administration's key economic appointments, is a prolific writer with a reputation of being an innovative thinker. He has recently concentrated on analyzing how the United States should fit into the post-Cold War global economy.