Posted on 01/10/2010 12:49:40 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Paula Nowakowski, the longtime chief of staff to House Republican Leader John Boehner, died suddenly Saturday night, according to the leader's office. She was 46.
"It is with profound sadness and shock that I announce the passing of Paula Nowakowski, my longtime chief of staff, trusted aide and friend, who died suddenly last night," Boehner said in a statement early Sunday afternoon. "Words cannot adequately express the sorrow and disbelief I and every member of our team are grappling with today in the wake of this stunning news."
A Boehner aide said the cause was an apparent heart attack.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called Boehner on Sunday to offer her condolences on Nowakoski's death.
"The entire Capitol Hill community is shocked and saddened by the sudden passing of Paula Nowakowski,” she said in a statement on Sunday. “As Chief of Staff to Republican Leader John Boehner, Paula earned the respect not only of her Leadership and Conference, but all House Members on both sides of the aisle. She served Leader Boehner both in his current position as well as previously at the Committee on Education and the Workforce with great distinction.
“Paula was a thorough professional who loved the House and worked in a constructive and bipartisan fashion to implement policies to help the Congress function efficiently. On behalf of the entire House, I express our deep sadness to Paula's family, friends and our colleague, Leader John Boehner.”
It would be hard to overstate Nowakowski's role in Boehner's tight-knit office. She has worked for the Ohio Republican almost continuously since 1995, when she joined his staff as communications director for the Republican Conference.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
How utterly sad. My condolences to her family and friends.
46?
What are the details? Where was she? What happened exactly? Please post when possible.
May God console and continue to guide Rep. Boehner and his entire office.
Eternal rest...
A terrible shcok and loss. All too sad. Prayers. . .
Prayers for comfort and strength to all her family, friends and co-workers in Congressman Boehner’s office...
What a shame. So young.
My dad died at 45 of one...it’s horrid when it happens this young.
“In 1994, Nowakowski was chosen to help draft then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s (R-Ga.) Contract With America, the Republican Party’s platform that helped catapult them into the congressional majority for the first time in 40 years.”
http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Paula_Nowakowski
“The Network
Nowakowski is surprisingly close with John A. Lawrence, the chief of staff for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). They met in 2001, when both were working as staff directors for the then-House Education and Workforce Committee. “I think our relationship personifies the old adage about being able to disagree without being disagreeable,” Lawrence told Politico.com.Sheffield, Carrie, “Is There Life After the Fall?” Politico, March 6, 2007
(4)Sheffield, Carrie, “Is There Life After the Fall?” Politico, March 6, 2007
She works with Boehner and Boehner spokesman Michael Steel and former press aide Kevin Madden.”
http://www.whorunsgov.com/Profiles/Paula_Nowakowski
Is it just me who is a little frightened by this story?
Since we've had this cold and snowy weather, locally we've had quite a few heart attack deaths — shoveling snow or even just being outside in the cold for too long. That's why it's a good idea to heed all that medical advice and be careful.
That is a shame! Prayers for her family.
We’re sorry for the loss: Younger, woman, professional, apparently in good shape.
Never the stereotype heart attack victim. Each of us is individual though, not “average” or a statistic.
Not necessarily a heart “attack” in the conventional sense. Doesn’t “sudden cardiac arrest” seem more likely?
Given the nature and character of the people in power in DC right now, it does give one pause...
Someone so young having a sudden fatal heart attack? Is someone sending a message?
That Dr. Oz was talking about how important it is to have some aspirin on hand in these kind of cases. You stick it under the person’s tounge before you do anything else like calling for help. It really can make all the difference. It keeps your blood from clotting during a heart attack. It’s also good to take an aspirin once a day as a prophylactic. People usually use baby aspirin for this.
I had a friend who had a heart attack at 28 and remember someone who had one earlier than that after a nasty round of pneumonia & hospitalization.
You must admit, however, that the ‘timing’ is very good if not excellent.
Personally, I have been wondering when people will start dying, as in, honestly, really dying, when things heat up around this administration. The deaths of the top CIA echelon in Afghanistan is, after all, rather far away.
Prayers for her family and friends.
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