The longest-serving woman ever on the Montgomery County Council, Marilyn Praisner passed away this morning due to complications from heart surgery to replace two heart valves.
A County press release said:
Known for her outstanding leadership on local as well as state issues, Mrs. Praisner was named by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the Washington area’s “Most Powerful Women,” and was included in the Daily Record’s “Maryland’s Top 100 Women” three times. The Montgomery County Business and Professional Women’s Club chose her as its 2000 “Woman of the Year.” She received the Charles Willis Award for outstanding school board service from the Maryland Association of Boards of Education. The Montgomery County National Organization for Women awarded her its 2004 Leadership Award.
Councilmember Praisner had taken the lead on a variety of issues, including child care, technology, the environment, private-public partnerships and fiscal policy. She sponsored the County’s Revenue Stabilization Fund, which has garnered high marks from the bond-rating agencies. She co-sponsored the Economic Development Fund that has helped attract quality employers to the County, spearheaded special protection areas (SPA) to protect stream valleys in the County, including the Upper Paint Branch, and established the County’s Technology Innovation Fund to modernize County government technology to better serve residents.
Rockville mayor Susan Hoffmann, a personal friend of Praisner's, issued the following statement:
On behalf of the Rockville Mayor and Council, I wish to express our sorrow at the sudden death of our good friend Montgomery County Councilmember Marilyn Praisner. Councilmember Praisner was a great public servant who served Montgomery County with devotion, first on the Montgomery County Board of Education, and then 18 years on the County Council. Marilyn was a personal friend. I shall miss her many kindnesses, her wise counsel, and her tenacious commitment to her vision for the County. Our sympathies to her husband, children and grandchildren, as well as her colleagues and many friends.
The family has requested donations be made to the Ida Raitano Scholarship Fund at Douglass College. The Ida Raitano Fund, named for Mrs. Praisner’s mother who died in 2001, was established at Douglass College to provide financial assistance annually to a first-in-family college student or an older student. Contributions may be made to the Ida Raitano Fund/Douglass Annual Fund, Douglass College Alumnae Association, 181 Ryder Lane, New Brunswick, N.J. 08901-8557.
(Photograph from Montgomery County.)
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