She went to Quaker school in Wynnewood and threw herself into athletics. ", "The other day," said daughter Holly Margolies, 24, "she said to me, 'I want another baby.' The implication of this, Fenton tells me, is that nothing is as important as what she needed personally, politically, and therefore she would have no problem conscience-wise to sign onto this lawsuit. Sign Up now to stay up to date with all of the latest news from TCM. Ms. Margolies shakes hands with President Bill Clinton. And I thought, here I am, standing here, part of all this. She made jokes that had half the room gasping in shock, the other half gasping with laughter. That gnomic sentiment has been around at least since the early 1970s, and just about every possible shade of meaning that could be hung on it has been. They had two sons, Jude and Trent. When Margolies was elected to the House in 1992, she was in her early 50s, and her last name was Margolies-Mezvinsky. It comes from the Maasai people of Kenya one of the many places that Ms. Margolies has visited through her hands-on, feet-always-moving work with Womens Campaign International. It has to do with caring and sharing and loving and watching a child grow and give.'. Through it all, Margolies never gave up her professional pursuits. Her decision to run puts the Clintons in a difficult spot. She gave toasts that prompted acquaintances to ask whether she was a stand-up comedian. "She was always doing three things at once. I dont know, Margolies says, when I put it to her, over hors doeuvres at a restaurant before the Albright fundraiser. She gave speeches at memorials that made everyone cry and laugh in the same breath. Theres no question that the scandal and its messy fallout were damaging to Margolies as well. Lee Heh could get only a student visa, "and she was the youngest student ever to get one." Eventually, the adoption went . Her assignment as a CBS correspondent soon opened a door she never imagined. And that she would be. | Sue Rubel/AP Photo. Herbert and Mildred's daughter.". In this vein, the harshest indictment of Marjorie I hear comes from Mezvinskys former doctor Brad Fenton. The most revealing Margolies-Clinton episode may have taken place at Marc and Chelseas 2010 wedding. Lee Heh, now 21, was hers, but Margolies didn't stop there. I'm not getting anywhere." "I had done lots of stories on hard-to-place kids," Margolies said - kids from war zones, kids who had grown up on the streets. "If I'm elected, it'll be because I'm different and people want me to be different for them," said Mezvinsky. "She was forced to sort of quiet her life - and really become at peace with herself," he said. I dont know if theres a lot of giveback.. "Were there any redeeming qualities? Please enter valid email address to continue. During his trial, it came out that he had tried to woo investors by touting Chelseas relationship with his son. Her vote tied the count at 217 to 217; given House rules, it passed. Margolies led the U.S. delegation; then [] He is a member of the House Judiciary and Government Operations Committees and serves on the Democratic Steering and Policy Committee. MOUNTAIN AVE. MONTCLAIR, NJ Seller: KINARD, DAVID M. & ELIZABETH F. 221 NO. She grew up with stability and normality and she woke up and said, 'I want more.' Two, her now-ex husband went to jail for running a Ponzi scheme. Holly changed professions frequently - writing for television, radio production, office management for an architectural firm, and once, writing letters to irate guests at an Arizona luxury ranch, the latter job a vessel for her scathing wit. When I ask the native Northeast Philadelphian Boyle what differentiates him from his opponents, Margolies in particular, he says hes the only candidate who isnt a millionaire or married to one. Put another way: Hes a first-generation Irish-American who grew up in a row house in Northeast Philly; she once sued US Airways after a bag fell on her head. Her house burned down over the summer and is not yet rebuilt. A couple hours before the vote, she had appeared live on Philadelphia television to explain her opposition to the bill. The brash girl from the big city and the soft-spoken lawyer from the rural Midwest clicked, unexpectedly. What could she say? one political operative told Philadelphiamagazine in 2002. I had no idea what was going on in my own household, but Im equipped to vote on a $2 trillion budget! "Theres just nothing like losing a child," Margolies said. She tried to rest after a life spent on the go. 38 Brown Street / Box 1920 Providence RI 02912 401 863-2453 Fax 863-1650 News_Service@brown.edu Contact Brunoniana From Martha Mitchell's Encyclopedia Brunoniana: Olney-Margolies Athletic Center The Olney-Margolies Athletic Center was dedicated on October 31, 1981. But I knew that in a million years, I would never, ever, do that.". Thirty-nine years after she left, Holly went to Vietnam in 2012, with Margolies. When Holly came, it was like receiving a letter bomb. She arrived angry, convinced her birth mother had abandoned her. She told her adoptive mother, the former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies, how to begin her eulogy: "Tell them, 'She was always my favorite child.' When Democrat Mezvinsky was defeated for reelection the next year, the family moved to the Philadelphia suburbs, where Margolies and Mezvinsky had two children of their own -- Marc, now 14, and Andrew -- and Margolies commuted to Washington for 12 years to work part time for WRC. An untraditional family at first glimpse but for Margolies, she never imagined simply becoming a mother would spark history. The honoree? Getting her was tough going through the adoption agencies, which can even make it nearly impossible for married couples. Marjorie Margolies stands at a podium; the presidents seal hangs from it. Margolies (with Marc) at her swearing in ceremony in 1993. In a last-ditch attempt at an insanity defense, he sued Fenton for prescribing him an anti-malaria drug that he said exacerbated his ostensible bipolar disorder, resulting in bouts of manic-depressive behavior, which in turn caused him to rob people. She gave speeches at memorials that made everyone cry and laugh in the same breath. Margolies became the first unmarried U.S. citizen to adopt a foreign child. "We have bagels and tuna fish," she hollers at campaign headquarters, waving everyone over to a make-it-yourself lunch spread on her desk. Chelsea Clinton. When: On Thursday, January 19, at 11 a.m. Where: Online, for the JCC U at the Kaplen (Since her vote, John McCains thumbs-down on the Senates last-ditch attempt to kill Obamacare in 2018 has been added to that list. She learned English fast, and comedic timing faster. ), What about Liz Cheney? PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - As we count down to Mother's Day, an incredible story about one woman's journey to become a mother. I was a delegate to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in 1992. I was at his wedding, you know. Holly grew up, went to the University of Pennsylvania, got married, had two children, and had a happy life, but she died of cancer four years ago. Her dish always has to be full. I felt the budget cuts didnt go far enough, she wrote in her 1994 book A Womans Place: The Freshmen Women Who Changed the Face of Congress. Her highest honours came with the women's 4100 m relay team, with which was a . They [have] a very congenial relationship, let me put it that way. Apparently she means the sleepovers thing literally. Now, on weekends, she and her brood don bright red T-shirts emblazoned "MMM for Congress" -- the shirt flaps around Andrew's knees, but is a clean fit on Holly -- pile into a van and campaign across the affluent Main Line and middle-class outer suburbs of Philadelphia where Mezvinsky is running against Republican Montgomery County Commissioner Jon D. Fox in the heavily Republican district of retiring Rep. Lawrence Coughlin. Lee Heh came from Korea, and her adjustment was seamless. Timeless Lessons from the Frontlines of Motherhood., Get The Jewish Standard Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories Other rewards followed. She quit working to spend more time with her sons. 'I started to look when I was 25,' remembers Margolies, now a reporter with WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. She shuttles between the capital and her home in Philadelphia. In 2007, Doug traveled to Vietnam by himself - "kind of a scout trip," he said - and found family members who spoke of a tough little girl with a sharp sense of humor. the mom of 11 kids shares how she became the first single woman in the U.S. believed to have adopted internationally. But in 2016, heartbreak arrived. She said, I think that she has unfinished business. (Tonight, were all on a first-name basis with the Clintons.) Lee Heh arrived from Korea in 1970 and was joined four years later by Holly from Vietnam. And her staff is on her back to make fund-raising calls. NBC-TV reporter Margolies surmounted both obstacles in 1970, after several years of effort. At this point, winning is anything but certain. My dad would have loved this particular Danish, and I really hope that wherever he is, he is able to enjoy her as much as I am. Its hard to sum up Ms. Margolies life. Northern New Jerseys Jewish Voice Since 1931, Get The Jewish Standard Newsletter by email and never miss our top stories, www.jccotp.org/ programs/lectures-learning, Israel Story looks at the countrys founding document in Teaneck program. Her mother, Mildred Margolies, 81, of Philadelphia, remembers always worrying that her daughter was doing too much. And she was very, very funny. Book They Came To Stay, by Marjorie Margolies and Ruth Gruber, about adoption of a Korean girl and a Vietnamese girl by Margolies, revd by Betty Jean Lifton; illus . You get the check, but its not the right amount. Margolies was booted in 1994, after a single term. Women from around the world came to the conference; Ms. Margolies stands in the center of the group. Her. A year later, while reporting for an NBC affiliate in New York on the Vietnamese "baby lift," she came to Washington to interview then-Rep. Edward Mezvinsky, fell instantly in love and married him. She was 48 and the mother of two boys whom she cherished, Jude and Trent Werth. Holly, a half-Vietnamese, half-American child, was a street child. Another housekeeper and a handyman help keep the hectic household running. Margolies, an Emmy-winning TV journalist, the first unmarried American woman to be permitted to adopt foreign children, and an author is now the founder and president of Women's Campaign International. "I could tell you if we ever had guests, Holly would walk in and shed say, 'Are we gonna adopt any of these people?'" 'I ran into a lot of opposition. The housekeeper and her son, 8, also live in, as will the baby she is expecting. I've juggled pretty well.". Margolies became the first single woman to adopt internationally in the United States of America. After Holly died, Margolies, tying up loose ends, called the hospice service that had cared for her daughter in her last days. In 1992, she ran for Congress, and won, serving for two years as a congresswoman from Pennsylvania. Serving as guardians for this massive brood can be a costly endeavor, she admits,but cares little about the expense. After that, three key developments occurred. ", Candidate Mezvinsky, milking the Year of the Woman to the max, touts what she privately calls "my crazy family" as the essence of family values and rages at those "trying to preach to me about what a family is.". They knew that not only did I want to do the story, but I wanted to adopt. The youngest children flocked to Holly. Margolies was then a television reporter for NBC Philadelphia, and, a few years earlier, had become the first single American woman to adopt a foreign child: Lee Heh, from South Korea. They weren't asking my questions.". Margoliess brief remarks are apolitical; she mentions the race only to tell people to direct questions to her staff. Life lessons from an Israeli cab driver. So, Ms. Margolies, you must have a big house, right? Snares Daley NEW YORK - Lee Heh Margolies, 11-year-old stepdaughter of Rep. Ed Mezvinsky, D-Iowa, Is an accredite. Timeless Lessons From the Front Lines of Motherhood.". And she was just impossible. "She was always looking for cute guys for me," said Couric. Margolies chronicled their experiences in the 1976 best-seller, They Came to Stay (Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1976), the first of five books she has authored. Margolies was sitting in the audience and exchanged hellos with Clinton at the event. She spent a long time looking into adoption in Korea; literally, as I was ready to leave, they said, We have picked a little girl for you. That little girl, 7-year-old Lee Heh, became Ms. Margolies first child; Ms. Margolies is said to have been the first single American woman to adopt a child internationally. May 3, 2022 / 5:58 PM In exchange for her vote on the budget bill, President Clinton agreed to attend a conference on entitlement reform in her district. The last time I was here was three years, two months and 25 pounds ago. 'I've gotten so much more out of this than the children have. She never lost her stubborn streak - "If she wanted to do something, she got an A+. See the complete profile on LinkedIn and discover Leah's . Lee Heh could get only a student visa, and she was the youngest student ever to get one. Eventually, the adoption went through. One, President Bill Clinton personally convinced her to cast a tie-breaking vote on his infamous 1993 budget bill that cost the Pennsylvania congresswoman her job. ", "Holly had a very traumatic early childhood," Werth said. Werth died May 3 at her home in Boise, Idaho, at age 48. I think people like resilience. Let me say, that there are moments where I have been laying on the sofa saying, 'why did I get into this? Fenton and his wife were close family friends who often watched over Margoliess son Andrew when she and Ed were away. Her communications director, now CNN anchor Jake Tapper, was the son of the family pediatrician, and got the job when he tired of film school in Los Angeles. Ms. Margolies runs with her two young daughters. In the car on the way to the Albright event, I ask how involved the Clintons are in her campaign. Quad-City Times from Davenport, Iowa on July 15, 1976 1 "Since 1998, we've been traveling around the world helping women, getting them to the table," she said. But a determined Margolies, then a reporter with WCAU-TV in Philadelphia, carved out her own path to success. She was never charged with anything, and nobody I spoke with, from sympathetic former colleagues to bitter ex-friends, seems to think she was in on the fraud. She then adopted a half-American, half-Vietnamese child, Holly, now 18. | AP Photo. They say, How are the children?, What: Will talk about her new book, among other things. She was just so easy, her mother said. But sometimes its just literally true. Margolies and Mezvinsky also have two biological children, Mark, 7, and Andrew, 3. She is a slip of a woman with a short wedge of black hair -- a contrast to the waist-length tresses that were her trademark on television in the 1970s -- who alternates between Albert Nipon suits and dungarees on the campaign trail. She had lost her bid for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania in 1998 and was in the midst of a run for Rick Santorums Senate seat when her husband, Edward Mezvinksy, a former congressman who represented Iowa in the 1970s, declared bankruptcy. I knew that it was something I truly wanted to do. The night after the fundraiser I attended with Margolies, Hillary Clinton arrived in Philadelphia to give a speech to the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. The suit didnt stick, and Mezvinsky eventually went to prison. ", "She doesn't use up psychological energy on things a lot of us think are indispensable," said longtime Washington friend Nancy Chasen, "like whether your kids' socks match or whether they got a bad haircut. The nurse on the other end gasped when Margolies introduced herself. Her old friend Madeleine Albright, the former secretary of state, is headlining the night. Three, her son Marc married Chelsea Clinton. In June 2012, Margolies rented a house in Ventnor, at the Jersey Shore, for her 70th birthday. It all began when Marjorie Margolies got a reporting assignment in Korea. As one of the swindled told the Philadelphia Inquirerat the time, Who expects to be taken to the cleaners when youve got an ex-congressman whose wife is running for the Senate? Mezvinsky eventually got in so deep that he fell for one of the original Nigerian-guy-needs-cash email scams, losing up to an estimated $3 million just to try to feed the scheme. Margolies, not unlike Bill Clinton, seems unable to separatethe personal from the political. "I was shocked to anger," she said. I realized the challenges.". That Margolies generally resists dishing about the Clintons doesnt mean theyre secretly best friends. the mom of 11 kids shares how she became the first single woman in the U.S. believed to have adopted internationally. As a journalist, Mezvinsky rarely drew a clear line between her reporting and her life. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Lee Heh Margolies, Montclair, NJ (07042) - Spokeo I hope she wins.". When Chelsea and Marc got married in 2010, it seemed almost arranged, a dynastic American political marriage in the tradition of Nixons daughter marrying Eisenhowers grandson (another buddy of Margies, by the way). "I went to Korea and in 1970 and I met Lee Heh, who was 7 years old," Margolies said. When he called and said, What would it take? she tells her well-heeled donors, I did not say, Your first-born., Marjorie Margolies in 2009. If she didn't, she just didn't do it," Margolies said - but was unmistakably bright, and went to the University of Pennsylvania, her mother's alma mater, on a lacrosse scholarship. Within a few minutes she changed her mind, walked onto the House floor and cast her vote to Republican jeers of Bye-bye, Margie! The Greek chorus proved prescient: Her right-leaning district deemed the budget too heavy on the taxes and too soft on the cuts. There had been only two votes in history that were that close and that important, she said. "Middle-income people are getting screwed royally," Keane said. We just lost a lot of stuff.' Marjorie Margolies knows a thing or two about parenting, and in her new memoir, "And How Are The Children?" 'When people ask, 'which ones are your real children?' After briefly attending Columbia University, Margulies began working for Munsey's Magazine, selling subsidiary rights to its stories. She was a terror, but fabulous. In the late 1990s, a job with a software company took her to Idaho, where she met her husband, Doug Werth. Lee Heh would become her daughter. Lee Margolies lives in Montclair, NJ; previous city include New York NY. Theres a fork in Mas leg!, Lets not forget when considering the pitfalls of mnemonics, Barnert Temple workshop provides food for thought and fresh insights, Looking back at a very difficult year with very real hope, Cemetery Association of Northern New Jersey will mark graves in 18 cemeteries, JYC, a Friday-night group for young professionals, grows in Morristown, Empty pews the decline of religion in America. Their relationship, he insists, is far more important in Marjories life than whether she wins or loses this race.. Essex women pool resources to make an 'Impact' - North Jersey Media Group She says she will vote for Mezvinsky. Though her birth mother, Ho Thi Hieu, had died 10 years before, Holly "learned her mother loved her and didn't want to give her away," Margolies said. Leah has 4 jobs listed on their profile. "Holly was our favorite patient," the nurse told Margolies. Fox's campaign consultant, Eddie Mahe, said polls show his man leading by double digits -- Mezvinsky's campaign is not polling -- enough to survive even long coattails to Democrat Bill Clinton. Or purchase a subscription for unlimited access to real news you can count on. Inside the party, Margolies is in her element, and not only because shes engulfed in a familiar sea of air kisses and cheese plates. She was a street child. Well, its the anniversary of when I moved into my house (along with Husband #1 and Sons #1 and 2) and it became our home. Simon van Zuylen-Wood is a reporter forPhiladelphia magazine. But eventually she decided, as she had children of her own - Trent, 10, and Jude, 12 - that she wanted to meet her birth family. 2 people found this helpful Helpful Its easy to describe what it feels like to have a conversation with her shes warm, charming, smart, honest, wide-ranging, open, and avowedly Luddite. Margulies was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, but was raised in Norwalk, Connecticut. She has Lee Heh and Holly, her ex-husband brought four more daughters into their blended family, they adopted three more Vietnamese sons, and she gave birth to two more sons. Margolies said her late daughter "was amazing" and left an incredible legacy, including two children. View Leah Margulies' profile on LinkedIn, the world's largest professional community. A household of 15 kept things interesting. The In-Law - The New York Times In 1995, Margolies was selected as the director of the U.S. delegation to the U.N. Conference on Human Rights in Beijing, where Hillary Clinton gave her famous womens rights are human rights speech. The first single US woman to adopt internationally shares her - AOL Theres a sense of entitlement, says one politico who used to work with her. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. At 25 and single, her own efforts to adopt and start a family were foiled until another assignment, the pertinent topic: hard to place children. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Some of them are adopted, some are stepchildren, and some were born to her. But the fundraisers VIP cachet is representative less of Margoliess political potency than of her connections. 'I had spent so many years just thinking about me and how I was going to get from Point A to Point B in my own career. "And a lot of those feelings she put in jars, figuratively speaking, and left them there.". Marjorie Margolies of NBC Wed to Rep. Edward Mezvinsky ), In 1997, several years after their first Renaissance Weekend together, Chelsea Clinton decided to attend Stanford University, where Marc was already enrolled. Marjorie Margolies, 79, was a reporter for WCAU in Philadelphia working on stories about children who were considered 'hard to place' She'd started trying to adopt at age 25 but was rejected as a. Margoliess career in electoral politics lasted only one term, but it ended twice. Mezvinsky never asked Fenton to invest, and Fenton does not suspect Margolies was involved in his schemes. Can you really think the Clintons were happy to have their only daughter caught up in this complicated and not fully ethical family?, But theres a flip side to the relentless networking, a sense among certain of her old friends and colleagues that her relationships are simply a means to an end. She appeared three times at the Summer Olympics (1972, 1976, 1980) and three times at the Commonwealth Games (1974, 1978, 1982). "I knew I wanted to parent," Margolies said. The whole family gathers at Marc Mezvinskys wedding to Chelsea Clinton. After planning for months and talking about it for months and anticipating it for months, I am finally in Israel. Four years later, she adopted Holly, then 6, from Vietnam. Public File for KYW-TV / CBS Philadelphia. One of Mezvinsky's four daughters from a previous marriage, Eve, also dwells under their roof as does 18-month-old Brian, the son of their live-in 'organizer', Roberta. she asked drily on a video Margolies took of that trip. As Cuomo announced hed fight Jew-hatred, the Jews decided to attack him ratherthan the antisemites. Department: The Feminist: Marjorie Margolies - Page 2 of 5 At 50, she looks more like someone's daughter than someone's mother, which is odd, because she is the mother, stepmother and legal guardian of 11 children, ages 10 to 28 -- a family she began building at age 28 when she became the first single American woman to adopt a foreign child. Ms. Margolies also writes about grief, and coping with it, in her new book. She met babysitters who told stories of her cajoling candy from American GIs, and family members who remembered hiding under the bed with an infant Holly as bombs fell on a nearby Army base in Nha Trang. People like comeback stories., Her son Marc apparently disagrees. I knew some kids were sent back. Holly. Marc was not in favor of Marjorie running, she tells me. Lee Heh arrived from Korea in 1970 and was joined four years later by Holly from Vietnam. 'I think I was the first single woman in the United States to adopt a child,' says Margolies, 43, who has made the same claim during interviews on national TV and has never gotten a dispute. (The two officially started dating in 2005, though Goldberg says that they kept it undercover for many years before that. Which side are you on Jewish American or American Jew? Lee Heh, docile and eager to . She became pals with Katie Couric and Gloria Steinem. An ex-journalist and former US Representative for the state of Pennsylvania has opened up about her journey to becoming a mother which happened in 1970, when she became the first single American woman to adopt a child internationally. / CBS Philadelphia. Two leaders of Pennsylvania's Montgomery County Democratic Committee approached Mezvinsky early this year. She was 48 and the mother of two boys whom she cherished, Jude and Trent Werth. And other tales of the war between Ukraine and Russia and of Russias new overlord, China, Call the doctor! She was a pickpocket, she smoked. Her career ended for a second time in 2000. A half-dead economy, the confirmation hearings of Justice Clarence Thomas and an insurgent electorate across the country have launched hundreds of candidacies that otherwise never would have been contemplated this year. What she did next changed history. Lee Heh, CSCP - Sr. Inbound Logistics Analyst - LinkedIn Margoliess decision to run undoubtedly puts the Clintons, eyeing a race of their own, in a tough spot, writes van Zuylen-Wood. I dont gamble, but I do take chances, she said. She endured grueling chemotherapy sessions. She tried to get up and leave with them sometimes, even toward the end. "See what I mean?" Even for a campaign fundraiser taking place a half-year ahead of a primary, there is surprisingly little talk of the election itself. Lee Heh Margolies was 15 when she was chosen from hundreds of applicants to join a select group of 101 congressional pages in Washington, D.C. and first appeared on the December issue of People . A group of women came to me and asked me to run. She thought about it, calculated the odds of winning but I always told my kids that you cant win if you arent prepared to lose and decided to try, although I had to give up a job that I really liked, she said. Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction | Kirkus Reviews Then, lowering her voice and raising her eyebrows, she adds, Its a good question, darling. She pauses and tries to get serious. I had Tenafly man revisits his fathers work with Ethiopian Jews in new film, Debut symphony will honor Chiune Sugihara, a savior of Jews, Tenafly attorney, founder of camp for burn victims in Israel, tells of young lives transformed, Teen groups international president is from Greater Jersey Hudson River region, Bob Nesoff writes about his friend Ron Blomberg, Daughter of survivors brings Holocaust obligation to TABC students, Amazon Prime doc details the wild life of Jewish gangster Myron Sugerman, Mourning the Dees incorporeality and heaviness, Camp to college: How Jewish camp prepares children for college and life.
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