[NYAPRS Enews] In Memory and Honor of Senator Tom Morahan

[Harvey Rosenthal]

NYAPRS Note: New York's mental health community has lost a great friend
and fighter as longtime Senate Mental Health and Developmental
Disabilities Committee Chairman Tom Morahan died yesterday after a 6
month struggle with leukemia. 

Senator Morahan leaves behind a great legacy: he was a prolific
legislator sponsoring over 230 bills in his 11 year tenure as Senator
for Rockland and Orange Counties which lie just north of New York City.
The Senator sponsored landmark legislation including Timothy's Law
establishing mental health insurance parity in New York State,
Jonathan's Law which raised state agency oversight responsibility for
the care of people with mental disabilities and, most recently,
legislation that changed the name of OMRDD to the Office of People with
Developmental Disabilities. 

As former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos said recently "the people
in the mental health community can always count on him". Yesterday
Skelos added that "Tom was a champion for the mentally disabled and
their families, as well as to all of his constituents in Rockland County
and the lower Hudson Valley. And he was working for them right to the
end." The Senator's unique capacity to work across the aisle to get
things done resulted in his reappointment as Republican Mental Health
Committee Chair by the Democratic led Senate this past year.  

Our NYAPRS community has long had a great affection for the Senator that
stemmed back to his tenacious refusal to bow to considerable pressure in
2005 to accept state data and recommendations that Kendra's Law's
reliance on involuntary outpatient commitment orders should be a
preferred approach and made permanent. In doing so, the Senator defied
heavy pressure from then Governor Pataki, Attorney General Spitzer and
the NYC tabloids and insisted on a 5 year extension that required
independent scientific comparisons with voluntary approaches. When that
study failed to provide that comparison, the Senator most recently
supported and won passage for another 5 year extension, rejecting
pressure to expand and make the program permanent.

Senator Morahan won the affection of the mental health advocacy
community from the beginning. He brought us all in to meet with him when
he became chair of the Senate Mental Health Committee and gave us a good
natured grilling to best understand our issues and concerns. He shared
poignantly about his own families experience with disability and gave us
a commitment that never wavered. 

He was a real character, with a big warm grin
(http://jukebox.lohud.com/photos/popup/index.php?gallery=Senator%20Tom%2
0Morahan%20remembered
<http://jukebox.lohud.com/photos/popup/index.php?gallery=Senator%20Tom%2
0Morahan%20remembered&offset=1> &offset=1), a lovable crusty candor and
a tough tenacity to tirelessly fight for any cause he believed in.
That's why just last week the NYAPRS Board acknowledged the Senator's
efforts as recipient of our 2010 Public Policy Leadership Award for
outstanding public leadership on behalf of New Yorkers with psychiatric
disabilities, an award we hope to share with the Senator's family at
next January 25's annual Albany Legislative Day. We will always remember
and honor our champion. 

 

New York State Sen. Morahan Loses Fight With Leukemia

Associated Press July 12, 2010

 

New York State Sen. Thomas P. Morahan, a longtime legislator who
championed a law that expanded mental health insurance coverage, has
died at a Manhattan hospital. He was 78. Spokesman Ron Levine says
Morahan died Monday after a six-month struggle with leukemia. He says
the Republican lawmaker died at a hospital surrounded by family and
friends.

Morahan was a state senator for over a decade, representing towns in the
northern New York City suburbs of Rockland and Orange counties. During
his tenure, he introduced 230 bills. He may be best remembered for
successfully advocating for Timothy's Law, which requires insurers to
provide more mental health coverage. He was elected to the state Senate
in 1999.

----------------

Sen. Thomas Morahan Dies At 78 

Politics on the Hudson  July 12, 2010

 

State Sen. Thomas Morahan died today in a Manhattan hospital, where he
was surrounded by family, a spokesman said.

Morahan, 78, was diagnosed with a terminal form of leukemia earlier this
year. The Republican lawmaker represented all of Rockland and part of
Orange County for more than a decade.

Lawmakers passed several initiatives sponsored by Morahan this session,
including legislation to remove the word "retardation" from the state
Office of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities and call the
agency the Office of People with Developmental Disabilities.

"This legislation will help to avoid the negative overtones associated
with 'mental retardation' and to reinforce the use of person-centered
language whenever possible," he said in a statement at the time.  "It is
important that state and local laws, regulations, as well as future
publications, be revised so that the use of the term 'mental retardation
and mentally retarded' are removed except for clinical purposes as
defined in the mental hygiene law."

The New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services
announced Friday that it was giving the senator the group's Public
Policy Leadership Award. The group is honoring Morahan's work over the
past decade on legislation that benefits people with psychiatric
disabilities.

"We're really very saddened to lose our champion. Over the last few
years, he really has helped move a number of important initiatives,"
Harvey Rosenthal, executive director of the association, said today.

In 2005, he was pressured by then-Gov. George Pataki and then-Attorney
General Eliot Spitzer to make Kendra's Law permanent, Rosenthal said.
The law permits court-ordered treatment for people with mental illness
who could be a danger to themselves or others. Morahan supported
extending the law for five years so more research could be done on its
effectiveness. He sponsored legislation this year to extend it for
another five years.

"I remember him saying to me, 'I'm going to do what I believe here. I
don't owe anybody anything,' and he kept his word," Rosenthal said.

Rosenthal said mental-health advocates loved Morahan's "crusty sort of
candor and his lovable nature and his willingness at the same time to go
to the mat for an issue that he really cared about."

Morahan would always say what was on his mind, Rosenthal said. "He
expected honesty and he gave it," he added.

Glenn Liebman, head of the Mental Health Association in New York State,
said Morahan's death is a great loss.

"He was a wonderful advocate for people with psychiatric disabilities
and he was a man of great compassion," Liebman said.

 

http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2010/07/12/sen-thomas-morahan-dies-at-78
/ 

------------------

 

Sen. Tom Morahan, 78, Loses Battle With Leukemia

Capital Confidential July 12, 2010

 

Sen. Tom Morahan, a longtime member of the chamber's Republican
conference who announced in May he was
<http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/26777/sen-tom-morahan-wont-
run/>  not seeking re-election, has died. Morahan was diagnosed with
Leukemia earlier this year, and had been in Albany less frequently as he
underwent treatments.

 

Here's the statement from Morahan's office:

It is with great sadness that the staff of the 38th Senatorial District
today announces the passing of New York State Senator Thomas Patrick
Morahan, a highly respected New York State Legislator and a champion of
mental health reform in the State. Senator Morahan, 78, died at New York
Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center, after a six month struggle
with Leukemia. The Senator passed peacefully with his family at his
bedside. For over 11 years, Senator Morahan represented the residents of
Rockland County, as well as residents in the towns of Tuxedo and Warwick
in Orange County.

During his career in the New York State Senate, Senator Morahan
effectively collaborated with colleagues on both sides of the aisle.
Since his election in 1999, the Senator introduced 230 Bills, which were
signed into law. To date, 14 additional Morahan Bills have passed both
houses and await the Governor's signature.

Senator Morahan was one of two Republican Senators to be asked by the
Senate Majority to resume his service as Chairman of the Senate
Committee on Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, a committee
where he championed many bills including Timothy's Law, landmark
legislation that mandates mental health insurance parity in New York
State.

Over the years the Senator received a numerous awards saluting his
accomplishments and service. He was particularly proud of honorary
degrees from Dominican College, St. Thomas Aquinas College, and most
recently from Rockland Community College.

Senator Thomas Morahan was born on October 11, 1931 in the Bronx. He was
the youngest of four children. He attended Holy Family Elementary School
and graduated from Cardinal Hayes High School.

Senator Morahan served his country during the Korean War, and served
with the US Army Flash Ranger Battalion, attaining the rank of Staff
Sergeant.

In 1952, Senator Morahan married Helen Killion. In 1963, they moved to
Rockland County where they resided in the Town of Clarkstown and raised
seven daughters. Over the years the Morahan's were blessed with
seventeen grandchildren.

Senator Morahan built a successful career in the public utility sector.
>From an entry-level lineman at New York Telephone Company, Morahan
advanced through the ranks, attaining senior level executive management
positions. After four decades of service he retired from the
telecommunications industry. Shortly thereafter, he was recruited as a
senior level manager at Orange and Rockland Utilities.

Senator Morahan began his community service as a member of the
Clarkstown Zoning Board of Appeals. In 1977, he was elected to the
Rockland County Legislature. In 1980, his constituents elected him to
represent them as a Member of the New York State Assembly. In 1984,
Morahan returned to the Rockland County Legislature. In 1996, he was
unanimously elected to serve as Chairman of the Rockland County
Legislature.

An editorial in The Journal News characterized him as "the most
effective chairman in the Legislature's history."

In a special election in 1999, Thomas P. Morahan was elected to fill the
unexpired term of retiring State Senator Joseph Holland....

http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/29394/sen-tom-morahan-dies-a
t-78/ 

 

 

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