RIP Sen. Claiborne Pell

[2muchcoffeeman]

If the name sounds familiar, that's because he probably helped most of us go to college.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090102/ap_on_re_us/obit_pell_8

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Claiborne Pell, the quirky blueblood who represented blue-collar Rhode Island in the U.S. Senate for 36 years and was the force behind a grant program that has helped tens of millions of Americans attend college, died Thursday after a long battle with Parkinson's disease. He was 90.

Pell, a Democrat, died at his Newport home just after midnight, according to his former assistant, Jan Demers. . . .

He sponsored legislation creating the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant program, which passed in 1972 and provided direct aid to college students. The awards were renamed "Pell Grants" in 1980. By the time Pell retired, they had aided more than 54 million low- and middle-income Americans.

 

[Football_Bat]

He got just over the line into 2009. Attaboy. RIP.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

That's a long time to live with Parkinson's Disease, though much of that depends on the severity of the individual's issues.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

RIP to the man who helped more people and got less credit than practically anyone else.
And who, coincidentally and accidentally, opened an entirely new field in which college assistant coaches could cheat their brains out.

 

[terrier]

I'm proud to have been a constituent of his and to have voted for him.
He was one of the cheapest men who ever lived (wonder if he'll be buried in his dad's hand-me-downs, too?), but he treated his constituents with the respect too many of his successors treat talk radio hosts and red camera lights.
He had Parkinson's beyond most folks. He spent his last few years confined to a wheelchair and couldn't speak, but as of last summer was still getting around on the political circuit and could still understand what was going on (unlike most people, he didn't fall asleep after a half-hour of close talking from Joe Biden).