Congresswoman and Board Member from Ohio Remembered for Personal Touch
WASHINGTON, DC — The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation (CBCF) celebrates the life and legacy of U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, who died yesterday in Cleveland after representing the 11th Congressional District of Ohio since 1998. She was 58.
Rep. Tubbs Jones served on the Foundation’s board of directors and was chairwoman of the board’s nominating committee. She was also a co-chairwoman of the CBCF’s annual Mervyn L. Jones Memorial Golf and Tennis Classic, which is named after her late husband and each year raises thousands of dollars for the Congressional Black Caucus Spouses’ scholarship programs.
Rep. Tubbs Jones was in her fifth term in the House of Representatives. A former prosecutor and judge in Cleveland, she achieved multiple firsts as an African-American woman: the first elected to Congress from her state, the first to serve as chairwoman of the House Standards of Official Conduct Committee and the first to serve on the House Ways and Means Committee.
“Stephanie Tubbs Jones didn’t like people; she loved people,” said U.S. Rep. Kendrick B. Meek of Florida, the CBCF Board Chairman. “She didn’t shake constituents’ hands; she warmly hugged them. She didn’t just enter a room, sitting silently as an observing onlooker; she was the life of the party, with a lightning bright smile and an infectious laugh. I have shed many tears remembering a woman who lived an extraordinary life and accomplished much in the short time she was with us. We have lost a champion for the underserved and a heroine to so many.”
Rep. Tubbs Jones is the fifth current or former Congressional Black Caucus member to pass away this legislative session. Former Rep. Parren Mitchell of Maryland, former Rep. Augustus Hawkins and Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald of California and Rep. Julia Carson of Indiana preceded her.
“We have lost a dedicated, hard-working Board Member with the death of Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones,” said Elsie L. Scott, Ph.D., CBCF’s president and chief executive officer. “Having seen her this past weekend at the Congressional Black Caucus Institute Annual Policy and Issues Conference, in Tunica, Miss. — so full of life — it is hard for me to accept this tragic news. She was always full of wise counsel, willing to be a wonderful sister and with a shoulder to lean on when you felt weak. I will certainly miss her.”