Condolences to Sen. Durbin

Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois was one of the champions of food safety reform during the 2007 pet food recall. He gave press conferences, held congressional hearings, wrote legislation, and held FDA's feet to the fire.



Today we at Pet Connection would like to extend our condolences to Sen. Durbin and his family on the loss of his daughter, Christine A. Durbin, 40, to complications from a congenital heart defect:

She had been hospitalized for several weeks, Durbin spokesman Joe Shoemaker said.



Sen. Durbin was with his wife, Loretta Durbin, and family in the Washington, D.C., area on Saturday.



"Most of the family was at her bedside when she passed away," Shoemaker said.



Christine Durbin worked for 16 years for the U.S. Department of Agriculture in the emerging markets division. She lived with her husband and son in a suburb of Washington.



She "fought a heroic lifelong battle with heart disease," Shoemaker said. "Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Durbin family."



He said Sen. Durbin would not be making a further public statement.

The story is here.

Comments

[Gina Spadafori]

He's a stand-up guy. We dealt with his office a great deal during the pet-food recall, and his staff is well-informed, responsive, committed and helpful. Sometimes, it seemed that Sen. Durbin and Rep. DeLauro were the only ones who cared about the melamine murders, and who saw the bigger picture of the grave threat to our national security that continues to this day.



I knew Durbin couldn't be Sen. Obama's pick for VP because they both represent Illinois, but I still would have supported him in that role.



Many condolences to the family.

[spocko]

Thank you Gina and Christie for this. My first thought was to come here. I knew you would remember who stood up for food safety during the pet food recall.



We have since seen how the melamine murders (good phrase) have spread to humans in China.



I dealt with David Lazarus, Durbin's legislative staffer during the process and he was a great guy too.

My condolences to Durbin and his family.

He worked for us during the time when others didn't, I'll always remember the work they did.