Gene Karp

Life Legacy On Tuesday, September 8, Gene Karp died at Peppi’s House hospice center in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 79. Gene lived a life of dedicated public service to the local, state and national communities, including 6 years as the Pima County Democratic Chairman in Tucson, 18 years as the Chief of Staff to Senator Dennis DeConcini in the US Senate, 3 years as an appointee of President Bill Clinton in the US Department of Labor, and finally as an Adjunct Professor of Political Sciences at the University of Arizona. Throughout, Gene was a practicing attorney and a passionate activist for progressive political causes. Gene was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 16, 1936, (and remained rooted to that city through his devotion to the Philadelphia Phillies, 76ers and Eagles). With his parents Sam and Esther Karp and his brother Len, he moved to Tucson at the age of nine and began a life dedicated to serving the interests of his community. In his early years, he was a student at Tucson schools Sam Hughes Elementary, Mansfeld Junior High and Tucson High, where he was elected Student Body Treasurer. At the University of Arizona, he earned both his BA and law degrees. His first political campaign was his own run for Arizona State Legislature in 1964, but his real first love was the Pima County Democratic Party. He was Chairman there in 1970, when the Arizona Legislature purged all voter rolls statewide. Responding quickly to this challenge to civil rights and voter equity, Gene designed and led a (re)registration campaign that led to the highest number of enrolled Democratic voters in the county’s history. During the 1970’s, Gene also served as Vice-Chair of the Arizona State Democratic Committee and was appointed by Governor Raul Castro as Chair of his Political Appointment Committee. Gene and his family moved to Washington, DC in 1977, when he began his tenure as Chief of Staff and Legal Counsel to the newly-elected US Senator Dennis DeConcini, serving in that position through 1994. While there, he established a summer intern program, providing Arizona college students with Washington political experience, a program that became the model for many other Senate offices. In the process, Gene became a mentor and friend to many of the future political leaders of the state, a role that he relished for decades. His many accomplishments in this position always centered on themes of social justice and the promotion of his progressive ideals. He was deeply proud of his role in the smooth confirmations of Federal nominees from the state of Arizona, including the nomination of the US Supreme Court’s first female justice, Sandra Day O’Connor. When he left the Senate, his career went on to include his work at the US Department of Labor. He was Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Employment Standards Administration, overseeing the regular enforcement of over 100 federal labor laws dealing with workers’ basic rights and compensations. In this capacity, he took part in raids on sweatshops in US cities and managed initiatives to ensure compliance with federal Wages and Hours standards. When he moved back to Tucson from Washington in 2003, he resumed practicing law and began teaching a University of Arizona honors class entitled “How Congress Works”, which he often said was an unexpected highlight in his career. He was honored in 2007 with induction into the Arizona Democratic Hall of Fame. Among other career and personal highlights, he was a co-founder of the Federation of Families for Children’s Mental Health, and he served on its national Board of Directors. He also served as a advisor to the National Student Partnership, a non-profit based in Washington, DC. Gene is survived by his wife, Naomi Silver Karp, a nationally known educator and his partner in all things; his daughter, Gail, her husband, Erik Linton, and children, Melany and Levi, of New York, NY; his son, Wingate, of Los Angeles; his brother, Leonard, of Tucson; and many devoted family members in Arizona and elsewhere. His legacy of service to community and human rights can be honored with donations to one of the following: • the Karp-Silver Family Scholarship, (an endowed fund managed by the University of Arizona Foundation for Early Childhood Education Studies) https://uafoundation.org/netcommunity/sslpage.aspx?pid=1138 *go to “Other” drop-down menu and designate Karp-Silver Family ; • The Respite Care Fund of the Alzheimer’s Association of Southern Arizona, in acknowledgment of the disease he lived with for the last years of his life http://www.alz.org/dsw/ please make sure that donation goes to Desert SW Chapter and clearly reads “in memory of Gene Karp” for correct distribution ; • The United Way of Tucson and Southern Arizona Helping the Working Poor Fund http://www.unitedwaytucson.org/news/helping-working-poor-fund; and • The Pima County Democratic Party Get Out The Vote Drive http://www.pimadems.org/committees/get-out-the-vote/ There will be a Community Celebration of Gene’s Life in October. Details to come.