Gabrielle Giffords and Gabe Zimmerman Memories

Posted by puguh on Sunday, January 9, 2011

Gabrielle Giffords and Gabe Zimmerman Memories. Related searches in google are gabrielle giffords, gabrielle giffords shot, giffords, tucson news, jared loughner. Gabe Zimmerman, the congressional staffer who was killed in the mass shooting in Arizona on Saturday, was known as a friendly and dedicated aide who had been with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords since the earliest point in her congressional career.



His job was director of community outreach — the position which led him to organize the “Congress on your Corner” event that quickly turned from a run of the mill local town hall to a national tragedy in which six people were killed — including Zimmerman — and Giffords was shot in the head.

Zimmerman was remembered by friends and colleagues on Saturday night as friendly, dedicated and good humored.

He was engaged to be married, according to media reports, and had served as a major point of contact for the congresswoman since 2007.

Zimmerman, who worked out of the congresswoman’s Tucson office, was known by local interest groups for going above and beyond the call of duty.

Several photographs on the Internet show Zimmerman, who was a former social worker, smiling with his arms around local community leaders.

Among them was Pat Gould, a support group leader in the local chapter of the Scleroderma Foundation. With Zimmerman’s help, the group was able to garner Giffords’ support for legislation recognizing the disease.

Gould broke down crying when POLITICO informed her of Zimmerman’s passing.

“He was such a very nice man,” she said. “Very receptive, very attentive, very concerned. He expressed extra concern about this autoimmune disease because he had a relative who suffered with one too.”

“Gabe was one of those rare people in high school who was nice to everyone. He was a friendly, outgoing, popular guy who was welcome in virtually every social circle. I can’t remember anyone ever having an unkind thing to say about him,” said Sommer Mathis, a high school friend who works at TBD, a local news Web site and sister publication to POLITICO.

Zimmerman played varsity soccer and was known for taking a rigorous set of AP courses. “Have a great day!” signs off the cheerful recording on Zimmerman’s voicemail reached by POLITICO in the Congresswoman’s Tucson office.

“He just had a heart for people,” said Doug Hart, president for the Arizona Alliance for Retired Americans. “Everybody loved the guy, and that’s a hard thing for a young man to pull off with seniors. I remember telling him I’ve been married for 42 years and he said he hoped he could be married that long.”

“We serve who walks into our office and we don’t even ask what party they belong to,” Zimmerman told the Tucson Citizen in 2007.

Zimmerman was among 24 employees currently employed by the congresswoman, according to House salary disclosure information posted on Legistorm.com. The site listed Zimmerman as deputy scheduler as of the end of September.

Gifford’s press secretary, C.J. Karamargin said that the Congresswoman had not received any recent threats and had no reason to fear for her or her staff’s safety.

“She has always been very open and accessible. She’s never shied away from an opportunity to meet with her constituents, even when the topic was hot and heavy,” Karamargin said.

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