Wasserman

Each spring, for thousands of years, Jews have paused at Passover to commemorate the ancient Hebrews' exodus from slavery in Egypt. The Haggada, containing the Passover narrative and Seder ceremonies, reminds Jewish people the world over of their obligation to "let all who are hungry come and eat."And if the hungry are vegetarian? No problem. With creativity, substitutions and expanding product options, a vegetarian Passover menu can be traditional and satisfying.This year, "I see more things like salsa and Thai sauce that are kosher for Passover," says Debra Wasserman, a director and founder of the Vegetarian Resource Group, a local nonprofit organization that promotes meatless living.

LONDON -- Maryland Health Secretary Martin P. Wasserman used an international health forum to launch a brief, off-the-cuff attack against the Republican-controlled Congress yesterday."

QUEENSTOWN -- Scientific meetings rarely get people's blood boiling, but this weekend's Aspen Institute conference is no ordinary colloquium: It puts a Bunsen burner under the simmering issue of the genetics of crime.For three years, David Wasserman, a College Park legal scholar, has been trying to stage his conference, titled "Research in Genetics and Criminal Behavior: Scientific Issues, Social and Political Implications," despite denunciations, anger and anguish. The conference runs through tomorrow.

On one of his first days as Maryland's health secretary, Dr. Martin P. Wasserman called his staff to a series of meetings. They began at 8:30 a.m. and didn't end until 11 p.m.Such long hours have become routine for Dr. Wasserman, who took office in late December.At 52, he works six days a week, sleeps five hours a night and swims two miles each morning. Most people still are asleep when he feeds his four horses and cleans their stalls. And just as he cooks too much lasagna for his family, he has thrown himself full force into his new position.

In its first attempt to decipher Maryland's high cancer death rate, the state health department has found that tobacco is a culprit without rivals.Health Secretary Martin P. Wasserman said yesterday that tobacco was a factor behind 41 percent of all cancer deaths in the state between 1987 and 1991.The leaf looms so large because it is the major cause of lung cancer -- which alone accounted for more than a quarter of all cancer deaths -- and is also implicated in malignancies of the pancreas, esophagus, bladder, throat and cervix.

Less than a year after London Fog Corp. moved its headquarters out of Maryland, the raincoat maker said today it would return its main office to its Eldersburg facility from Darien, Conn."

Mark L. Wasserman, who spun a city-planning degree into a career that touched the top levels of state government, said yesterday that his next job will be helping to drum up customers for First Fidelity Bank's Bank of Baltimore division.One of Gov. William Donald Schaefer's closest aides, Mr. Wasserman will become vice president and manager of business and government affairs for the bank on Jan. 23.As now understood, his duties will consist mainly of helping to boost the Bank of Baltimore's commercial loan portfolio from its present 8 percent of assets.

Maryland's economy gained some speed in the second half of 1994 and the momentum could carry through the first half of 1995, the state's top economic development official said yesterday."

Gov.-elect Parris N. Glendening said yesterday that he supports the state's workplace smoking ban, although he plans to modify it slightly if it passes legal review.The incoming governor's stance should clear one potential obstacle to a speedy legal review of the regulation, considered the toughest in the nation.Mr. Glendening said during the campaign he planned to rewrite the regulations to make them more business-friendly, a move that could have pushed enactment back a year.But yesterday he said he has written the judge who is hearing the court challenge to the ban to tell him that he would not intervene in the review process.

In an unusual joint political action, the governor and governor-elect are expected to name Dr. Martin P. Wasserman, the Prince George's County health officer, as the new state health secretary on Monday.Dr. Wasserman, a physician and lawyer, has been a leader in the fight against smoking. He will be the first major appointment for Gov.-elect Parris N. Glendening.Mr. Glendening and a spokesman for Gov. William Donald Schaefer declined to comment, but sources confirmed the appointment yesterday.