Marie A. Lederer, retired Pa. state representative and volunteer, has died at 97
She served seven two-year terms and was first elected in 1992 to represent the 175th state legislative district in the near northeast river wards of Philadelphia.
Marie A. Lederer, 97, of Philadelphia, seven-term member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, expert on community revitalization, and longtime volunteer, died Wednesday, Feb. 26, of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami.
Rep. Lederer, then 65, was first elected in 1992 to represent the 175th state legislative district in the Near Northeast river wards of Philadelphia. She was encouraged to run for the position by family and friends and followed her husband, William; father-in-law; and brother-in-law into the state’s General Assembly.
She went on to win six more two-year terms and crafted legislation over 14 years on senior citizens, veterans, jobs, crime, drugs, child care, health care, the city wage tax, and education reforms. She was the subcommittee chair on arts and entertainment for the state’s Tourism and Recreational Development Committee and a member of the Health and Human Services and Urban Affairs Committees.
She told The Inquirer when she was elected in 1992: “I campaigned for eight months personally with my canvassers night after night after night. … I wore out three pairs of Reeboks and almost wore out a fourth.” She called her reelection in 1996 a “mandate from the people” and said: “I don’t represent large corporations and insurance companies. I represent the people.”
In 2004, she said: “My people don’t care about me making a statement. They want results. … My priority is the quality of life.” Her son, Bill, said: “She had a sense of community. She represented her constituents.”
Her signature projects include the Marie Lederer Senior Center on East Palmer Street in Fishtown, and she introduced bills that improved juvenile court recordkeeping, statewide DNA information sharing, and worker compensation benefits. She hosted hearings on casino gambling, drunken driving, prostitution, and other issues. She retired in 2006.
“My office of state representative is the closest to the people. They come to me with every kind of problem, city, state, and federal. I vote for their benefit.”
“She was a trailblazer working diligently across the aisle,” her family said in a tribute. “She stated countless times that a society is judged by the way it treats its children and its elderly.”
Rep. Lederer was especially adept at collaboration and fundraising, and she secured grants and teamed with federal and local officials to turn the old St. Mary’s Hospital building in Fishtown into dozens of senior low-income housing units. She was determined, she told The Inquirer when the project was pitched in the early 2000s, “to make sure something good happens here.”
The Marie Lederer Senior Center opened in 2006 and earned awards from community and civic groups for its “transformative contributions” to Fishtown and “design and place creation,” and was designated for historic preservation.
Earlier, she was a special assistant to U.S. Rep. Joseph F. Smith, local presidential campaign manager for Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson of Washington, and a political science instructor at Temple University. She was good at networking and helped her husband and other local candidates win elections as campaign manager.
» READ MORE: A 10th anniversary celebration of the Marie Lederer Senior center
She spearheaded community projects and volunteered for years with the American Red Cross and the Heart Fund. “She was efficient and very organized,” her son said. “She was independent, charming, strong-minded. She was a good, kind person.”
Marie Ann Panosetti was born Oct. 24, 1927, in Philadelphia. She was the daughter of Italian immigrants and grew up in Frankford, close to the Delaware River. In 2000, she told the Daily News: “I remember when everyone worked on the water.”
She graduated from Little Flower High School in 1945, took political science classes at Temple, and worked for a time as a chief bank teller.
She met William J. Lederer at a dance, and they married in 1950, and had daughters Doneda and Gina, and a son, Bill. They lived in Fishtown for decades. Her husband died in 2008.
“I think that when you give an establishment a license to serve alcohol, you’re really giving them a license to kill.”
Rep. Lederer had citizenship in Italy as well as the United States, and she traveled to Europe and elsewhere often. She spoke Italian, French, and Spanish. Her family called her “giving,” “an inspiration,” and “self-sacrificing” in tributes and said she “picked up the mantle of public servant.”
Her son said: “She found the best in people.” Her daughter Gina said: “She was courageous and brave, and the best role model I could have had.”
In addition to her children, Rep. Lederer is survived by three grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.
A celebration of her life was held March 14.
Donations in her name may be made to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Foundation, Box 781352, Philadelphia, Pa. 19178; and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, Tenn. 38105.