2022 -- S 2498 | |
======== | |
LC004778 | |
======== | |
STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022 | |
____________ | |
S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N | |
EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES ON THE PASSING OF HOWARD JEFFREY MELISH, ESQ. | |
| |
Introduced By: Senators Sosnowski, Felag, and McCaffrey | |
Date Introduced: March 01, 2022 | |
Referred To: Placed on the Senate Consent Calendar | |
1 | WHEREAS, It is with deep sadness that this Senate has learned of the passing of Jeff |
2 | Melish of Wakefield, Rhode Island. He was the husband of Joanne Pope Melish for forty-two |
3 | years and a distinguished attorney; and |
4 | WHEREAS, Mr. Melish was born in Brooklyn, New York, and until the age of eleven |
5 | had lived in the rectory of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, where his grandfather and father |
6 | served as rectors. He was the son of the late Reverend William Howard Melish, a supporter of the |
7 | Social Gospel, and Mary Jane Melish, an artist and social justice activist. His parents were |
8 | prominent civil rights and peace advocates who helped to racially integrate Brooklyn Heights in |
9 | the 1950s. The Melish Family’s support for international peace and friendship with the Soviet |
10 | Union earned the ire of United States Senator Joe McCarthy. A court case involving the Melish |
11 | Family reached the United States Supreme Court and famed playwright Arthur Miller wrote a |
12 | short story “Father and Son” about the Melish case; and |
13 | WHEREAS, Aside from politics, Jeff Melish, was also passionate about basketball. He |
14 | would practice daily for hours and was good enough to play against Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in high |
15 | school and had earned a scholarship to play basketball at Furman College. The call of politics |
16 | lured him back to New York City, where he became a leader of the Students for a Democratic |
17 | Society and the anti-war movement. He graduated from New York University in 1971 with a |
18 | degree in political science and history; and |
19 | WHEREAS, In 1972, after teaching for a year at the Brooklyn Friends School, Mr. |
20 | Melish moved to South Kingstown with his first wife, Carole Costanza. In 1973, he attained an |
| |
1 | M.A. degree in Elementary Education from the University of Rhode Island and taught second and |
2 | third grade at Moses Brown and Peace Dale Elementary Schools for the next eight years; and |
3 | WHEREAS, In 1979, Mr. Melish met his soul mate, historian Joanne Pope Melish, and |
4 | later proceeded to attain a J.D. in 1984 from the New England School of Law, where he attended |
5 | class at night while working full-time during the day; and |
6 | WHEREAS, For the next thirty-seven years, Mr. Melish practiced law and worked |
7 | tirelessly in defense of civil liberties and civil rights. He was a social justice advocate who served |
8 | for more than three decades as an ACLU attorney and for many years as a member of the |
9 | ACLU’s Board of Directors. He was also an accomplished and well-respected family law and |
10 | disability/children’s rights attorney, and served many of the region’s nonprofits and social service |
11 | agencies as an on-call lawyer; and |
12 | WHEREAS, Mr. Melish also volunteered much of his free time serving on the boards of |
13 | the Johnnycake Center for Hope, South County Community Action, and ProChange Behavior |
14 | Systems, where he worked diligently to expand access to safe and quality housing for the poor, |
15 | providing needed food for and care for families, and attaining an inclusive education system for |
16 | all youngsters, including different kinds of learners. He also worked with Habitat for Humanity |
17 | and was a member of the South Kingstown Immigration Task Force; and |
18 | WHEREAS, Mr. Melish leaves behind his wife, Joanne, his children, Rachel Zinkand, |
19 | Jennifer Melish, Matthew Johnson, Tara Melish and foster daughter Gabrielle Prochaska, his |
20 | brothers John and Bill Melish, and seven grandchildren; now, therefore be it |
21 | RESOLVED, That this Senate of the State of Rhode Island hereby expresses its deepest |
22 | condolences on the passing of Jeff Melish; and be it further |
23 | RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
24 | transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mrs. Joanne Pope Melish and Family. |
======== | |
LC004778 | |
======== | |
| LC004778 - Page 2 of 2 |