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2004 SESSION


HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 45
On the death of Ruby Grant Martin.
Agreed to by the House of Delegates, January 16, 2004
Agreed to by the Senate, January 22, 2004

WHEREAS, Ruby Grant Martin, a Richmond civil rights lawyer, former cabinet member in the administration of Governor L. Douglas Wilder, and the first director of the United States Office of Civil Rights, died on May 8, 2003; and

WHEREAS, a native of Cleveland and a 1956 honors graduate of Fisk University, Ruby Martin earned her law degree in 1959 from Howard University, where she was class president, a summa cum laude graduate, and was ranked first in her class; and

WHEREAS, in 1967 President Lyndon Johnson named Ruby Martin director of the newly established Office of Civil Rights in the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare; and

WHEREAS, in 1968 Ruby Martin received a Presidential Award, the Federal Women's Award, becoming the youngest recipient of this coveted honor; and

WHEREAS, as director Ruby Martin was in charge of federal school desegregation programs and the employment and affirmative-action programs of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964; and

WHEREAS, in 1969 Ruby Martin cofounded the Washington Research Project, which became the Children's Defense Fund, which she served for many years as a member of the board; and

WHEREAS, in 1970 Ruby Martin became general counsel to the Congressional Committee on the District of Columbia, coauthored the legislation granting home rule to the District and authored the legislation creating the University of the District of Columbia; and

WHEREAS, in 1978, already a distinguished and widely respected attorney and civil rights leader, Ruby Martin moved to Richmond, and following the election of her Howard Law School classmate L. Douglas Wilder as Governor of Virginia, became Virginia's Secretary of Administration; and

WHEREAS, Ruby Martin was responsible for the operations of the Departments of General Services, Information Technology, and Personnel and Training, which she led with her characteristic energy and competence; and

WHEREAS, Ruby Martin was a force behind Virginia's move to a managed-care health system for state employees and worked vigorously and successfully to limit the number of state employees laid off during the economic downturn of the early 1990s; and

WHEREAS, a key member of Governor Wilder's trade missions to Africa, Ruby Martin later served in a similar role for North Carolina Governor James B. Hunt; and

WHEREAS, Ruby Martin was a former chairwoman of the Port of Richmond, a former member of the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia, and a former member of the board to establish the National Slavery Museum; and

WHEREAS, Ruby Martin was a former member of the Virginia Retirement Board, the Richmond Renaissance Board, the National Board of the Girl Scouts of America and was secretary of Women Executives in State Government; and

WHEREAS, a woman of outstanding accomplishment in many fields, Ruby Grant Martin will be missed by the many political leaders with whom she worked and by the citizens of Virginia whom she served with such diligence and dedication; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the House of Delegates, the Senate concurring, That the General Assembly mourn the loss of an outstanding Virginian, Ruby Grant Martin; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Ruby Grant Martin as an expression of the esteem in which her memory is held by the members of the General Assembly.