Rochester/Washington, DC: Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, died March 16, 2018 surrounded by family at George Washington University Hospital. Louise was predeceased by her husband of 57 years, Robert “Bob” Slaughter, Jr. She is survived by her three daughters, Megan (Richard) Secatore, Amy Slaughter, and Emily Robin (Michael) Minerva; seven grandchildren, Lauren and Daniel (Erin) Secatore, Emma and Jackson Clark, and Mason, Linus, and Ione Minerva, and one great-grandchild, Henry Secatore.
Slaughter was elected to Congress in 1986. Prior to that, she served in the New York State Assembly from 1982 to 1986 and the Monroe County Legislature between 1976 and 1979. While holding elected office, she was regional coordinator to Mario Cuomo from 1976 to 1978 while he served as secretary of state and from 1979 to 1982 while he served as lieutenant governor.
At the time of her death, Slaughter, 88, was the dean of the New York congressional delegation, serving her 16th term in Congress. She rose to become the first woman to chair the powerful House Committee on Rules since it was formally constituted on April 2, 1789, and was serving as its ranking member. She was a relentless fighter for families in Monroe County and across the nation, and authored the landmark Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) and the Stop Trading On Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act, among many other accomplishments.
Slaughter was a champion for women and diversity. She wrote and successfully fought for the passage of legislation that guarantees women and minorities are included in all federal health trials, established the Office of Research on Women’s Health (ORWH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and secured the first $500 million in federal funding for breast cancer research at the NIH. Slaughter also co-authored the landmark Violence Against Women Act to reduce domestic violence.
As longtime co-chair of the bipartisan Great Lakes Task Force, Slaughter led the multi-year effort to secure more than $1.2 billion for Great Lakes preservation and restoration.
In 2006, after learning that 80 percent of Americans killed in the Iraq War due to upper body wounds could have survived with adequate body armor, Slaughter started a years-long effort to improve body armor safety standards. In 2009, she secured the recall and replacement of 16,000 pieces of unsafe body armor from the front lines.
Throughout her time in Congress, Slaughter fought to ensure equal access to quality education for all Americans. Heidi R. Macpherson, President of The College at Brockport, said in a statement, “Congresswoman Louise Slaughter spent her life fighting for the people she represented. She was a tireless advocate for affordable education and a great friend to SUNY and The College at Brockport. We will never forget her passion, wit, and, most admirably, her strength.”
Calling hours were held March 21 and 22 at Miller Funeral and Cremation Services, Winton Road South, Rochester. The Funeral Service celebrating the life of the congresswoman was held March 23 at Kodak Hall at Eastman Theatre. The Slaughter family requests the public consider a memorial contribution to The Louise & Bob Slaughter Foundation. The new foundation will support the causes and communities that were important to the late congresswoman and her husband. Donations can be mailed to The Louise & Bob Slaughter Foundation at 14 Manor Hill Drive, Fairport, NY 14450.
