CLEVELAND, Ohio — Pioneering public official U.S. Rep. Mary Rose Oakar of Ohio City passed away at 85 Saturday, upon which Governor Mike DeWine ordered flags flown half-mast.
An Arab-American of Lebanese and Syrian descent, Oakar was born into a working class family as the youngest of five children of a laborer father and homemaking mother.
Oakar grew up to have the stature of the stately trees that still line Ohio City today around her home. She went from a telephone operator turned teacher turned political operator for women’s rights and senior citizens as a Cleveland city councilwoman, U.S. Rep/Caucus leader, Ohio House Rep and Ohio Board of Education member.
Mary Rose Oakar sprouted as the first Democratic woman in Ohio elected to Congress, going on to serve 8 terms from 1977 to 1993. She co-founded the Congressional Women’s Caucus and also became Vice-Chair of the House Democratic Caucus.
During her time in Congress, Oakar advocated strongly for women’s economic rights and health care, leading Congress to approve $400 million for breast cancer research.
“Economic security is the truly liberating issue for women. If you’re economically liberated, your’e free to pursue other avenues in your life,” Oakar told The New York Times.
She also can be credited for making Catholic Nuns eligible for Social Security and advocated for all seniors as a member of President Clinton’s White House Advisory Board.
Locally Rep Oakar advocated for affordable senior housing at the Franciscan Village at Our Lady of Angels Parish by Kamm’s Corner; NASA Glenn Research Center; The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Lake Erie protection.
“She cared deeply about the people she represented in her district but also worked hard to advocate for all of Ohio. As a former teacher Mary Rose never lost her passion for education and children. She remained a passionate advocate for children until her death,” said Governor DeWine who served in the U.S. Senate while Oakar was in the House.
Before serving on Cleveland city council, Oakar taught at Lourdes Academy her alma mater, and Cuyahoga Community College. She was a graduate of Ursuline College. Had a masters degree from John Carroll University, studied at Columbia and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London.
Fellow Cleveland political mainstay Dennis Kucinich, having served as Mayor and U.S. Rep., remembered Oakar fondly:
“From her humble home in Ohio City on Cleveland’s West Side, to the highest echelons of power in Washington D.C., and far beyond, she brought the sensibilities of Cleveland’s neighborhoods, the practicalities of everyday life into considerations of those in power”
“Her love for Cleveland and the people of the community was always constant. Her love for, and dedication to her family was constant. Her’s is a legacy of caring. It’s hard to imagine that she’s no longer with us.”
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, for who Oakar was a mentor, said:
“She would go to the end of the earth to help her constituents.”
In 1977 Oakar started campaigning for Congress in a Model T and convertible decorated with roses. But exited in 1992 after hitting the big chuckhole of the House Overdraft Checks Scandal and was defeated by Martin Hoke.
After that, Oakar would still go on to serve in the Ohio House and as a member of the Ohio Board of Education.
Despite her decades long political stature and power, Mary Rose Oakar had always retained residency on ironically the right side of her modest white framed duplex with green trim on West 3rd in Ohio City besides the St Ignatius high school campus. Now the pearly gates have opened for her.