Lee Heh would become her daughter. 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. Lee Heh came from Korea, and her adjustment was seamless. 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.' 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. For an optimal experience visit our site on another browser. I was a delegate to the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, in 1992. 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. Marjorie Margolies of NBC Wed to Rep. Edward Mezvinsky ), What about Liz Cheney? But when unmarried Marjorie Margolies picked up six-year-old Lee Heh 15 years ago in Korea, it simply wasn't done. "She was forced to sort of quiet her life - and really become at peace with herself," he said. 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. Two years out of prison and still on probation, Ed Mezvinsky did indeed attend, but according to several of Margoliess friends, he did not walk down the aisle with Marc and Marjorie, per Jewish custom. In exchange for her vote on the budget bill, President Clinton agreed to attend a conference on entitlement reform in her district. Me. One of her biological sons is married to first daughter, Chelsea Clinton, whose mother, Hillary, wrote the forward for Margolies' new memoir "And How are the Children? At weddings, at funerals, at family dinners and raucous parties, she would walk into a room, assess the situation, and say something that cut right to the crux of things. That night of the vote, Clinton called me. That parts true. But that's the point. Two leaders of Pennsylvania's Montgomery County Democratic Committee approached Mezvinsky early this year. When Margolies was elected to the House in 1992, she was in her early 50s, and her last name was Margolies-Mezvinsky. Danish did not disappoint. The whole family gathers at Marc Mezvinskys wedding to Chelsea Clinton. (All photos courtesy Marjorie Margolies). Her assignment as a CBS correspondent soon opened a door she never imagined. But eventually she decided, as she had children of her own - Trent, 10, and Jude, 12 - that she wanted to meet her birth family. Some are parents; she has 21 grandchildren so far. Village View: Marjorie Margolies' latest effort is a guidebook for Montclair residents Selma Avdicevic and Lee Heh Margolies, two members of the steering committee for the Essex group, were surprised but excited by how quickly interest in the organization has. Ms. Margolies considered running a few other times, for a few other seats and got as far as a primary, but her elective career ended in 1994. Marjorie Margolies knew she wanted to be a mom, but wasn't sure if she would get married, so she adopted a pretty revolutionary idea in the 1970s. How is it possible that I forgot to wish my house a happy birthday? Reflecting back on parenting, Margolies said she loved the curiosity and challenges. Should a Holocaust documentary have a happy ending? The honoree? Three, her son Marc married Chelsea Clinton. The suit didnt stick, and Mezvinsky eventually went to prison. Holly Werth | Obituaries | mtexpress.com Iactually have no idea how many parts this is going to end up being, so I apologize in advance. She is the former Marjorie Margolies, Emmy Award-winning correspondent for WRC-TV from 1975 until 1990, more recently of the "Today" show. As Cuomo announced hed fight Jew-hatred, the Jews decided to attack him ratherthan the antisemites. ", "She's definitely not the '50s mom who does the laundry and who's baking cookies when we get home," said Lee Heh Margolies. She was a terror, but fabulous. She went from journalism to politics; for one fraught session of Congress, Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky, as she was then, won an open seat in Pennsylvanias 13th Congressional District in 1992. She was 48 and the mother of two boys whom she cherished, Jude and Trent Werth. She gave speeches at memorials that made everyone cry and laugh in the same breath. They came to stay: Margolies-Mezvinsky, Marjorie: 9780698106628: Amazon "I knew it could be hard. Class: residential (per ft 2) Non-usable Sale for Assessment. California's road to recovery runs through D.C. Republicans, Why New Jerseys ventilator guidelines may favor younger, whiter patients, Rhode Island ends specific restrictions on New Yorkers by making them national. I realized the challenges.". She feels out of touch with her mother (they haven't talked since last night). And given that Chelsea has said she hopes 2014 will be the year of the baby, Margoliess ties to the Clintons might soon become even stronger. 'And How Are the Children?' | The Jewish Standard But Mezvinsky hopes the desire to reject career politicians is more powerful than that, and she has won the endorsements of all three major daily newspapers in the district. Is that enough to fuel her political comeback? She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and did graduate work at Columbia. 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. In June 2012, Margolies rented a house in Ventnor, at the Jersey Shore, for her 70th birthday. Can America become the new Jewish Babylonia? 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. Incredible Story Of Marjorie Margolies' Journey To Become A Mother In 1976, she wrote a book on her two daughters, 'They Came To Stay'. There is no playing favorites with the couple's natural children, says Margolies, stressing that, after all, Lee Heh and Holly were there before her own came along. But even as a family of ten, Margolies had only one answer when asked to take in a family of refugees: "Let's do it.". She, I mean she smoked at 6. Oh, and she had a family of five Vietnamese refugees live in the family house as well; she became the legal guardian to three of that familys children, and theyre all still part of the family. ', Margolies, who had done a TV series on hard to place adoptive children, asked WCAU-TV if she could do a story in Korea, 'because there were lots of kids who were coming from there.'. A friend from Eugene, Oregon, who worked with an adoption agency there bumped into Ms. Margolies while she was working on a story in Vietnam. In 1970, Margolies was a TV reporter when an assignment took her to Korea for. What devastated Fenton, however, was not the outcome of the trial, but the fact that Margolies, who maintained that she was oblivious about her husbands dealings, signed onto the lawsuit as well. And she would seemingly do something for you, but then call in the obligation at another time. Three years later, Margolies drew on that experience to found Womens Campaign International, a globe-trotting nonprofit she still leads today. California residents do not sell my data request. "Were there any redeeming qualities? More than 30 years after she was married, Ms. Margolies went through a painful divorce; her ex-husband, also a former member of Congress, was convicted of fraud. Why do you want to do this, Mom? she says, paraphrasing him, Why do you want to open us up again? (Marc Mezvinsky did not respond to a request for comment.). 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. The In-Law - The New York Times Philadelphia-based Mezvinsky works in international trade and is chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. Former US Rep. reveals was first single woman to adopt internationally My parents had sponsored two young women to come to the U.S., one was from Bolivia and one was from Spain. But tonight, its her entire pitch. Holly Thi Werth met her husband, Doug, when a job with a software company took her to Idaho. The most revealing Margolies-Clinton episode may have taken place at Marc and Chelseas 2010 wedding. She had campaigned with her husband, Ed, a former Iowa congressman, countless times, but had never thought seriously of running for office -- although she came close during the Thomas hearings. Sure enough that is exactly the theme of Margoliess riff at the fundraiser, when she refers to the time Bill phoned from the Oval Office to beg for her vote. A friend of mine called Hillary and said, Why do you think she wants to do this? And Hillary said something that was very interesting. Ms. Margolies runs with her two young daughters. "Then I decided that all these years I'd been saying to my kids: 'You've got to be prepared to lose before you can win. Serving as guardians for this massive brood can be a costly endeavor, she admits,but cares little about the expense. She never lost her stubborn streak - "If she wanted to do something, she got an A+. 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. One morning, Holly called Margolies out of the blue. But when Hillary took the stage to praise a woman running for elected office in Pennsylvania, it was gubernatorial candidate Allyson Schwartz, the congresswoman Margolies is vying to replace. "I don't recommend doing a fire, a wedding and a campaign at the same time," Mezvinsky said. So, a family of five refugees from Vietnam moved in with the family. "I was shocked to anger," she said. 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. Marc was not in favor of Marjorie running, she tells me. Her greatest feat of Rolodex-padding, though, might have been losing her re-election in 1994. When Albright and Margolies stop posing for pictures with donors, Margolies, now 71, and impeccable in pearls and an elegant floral jacket, takes the mic and explains why shes running. A couple times a week, the entire family sits down to dinner as one, large group, but for the most part meals are served in two sittings. Rumors of romance followed. After reporting a story for Philadelphia television on hard-to-place Korean orphans, she was moved to adopt one, and persuaded reluctant adoption officials to let her become the mother of 6-year-old Lee Heh in 1970. She made jokes that had half the room gasping in shock, the other half gasping with laughter. Getting her was tough going through the adoption agencies, which can even make it nearly impossible for married couples. Achievements include supporting refugee children and families. When we had the fire, everyone came home for the weekend and all of a sudden we realized, 'Everyone is still here. Marjorie Margolies stands at a podium; the presidents seal hangs from it. I called him [Bill] when I was thinking about running, and I told him what was happening and he was very warm and very embracing., Finally, she relents a bit and, adopting Bills accent, mimics his reaction to the news: I love this! she drawls. In 1992, she ran for Congress, and won, serving for two years as a congresswoman from Pennsylvania. She became pals with Katie Couric and Gloria Steinem. And other tales of the war between Ukraine and Russia and of Russias new overlord, China, Call the doctor! She tried to get up and leave with them sometimes, even toward the end. It was terrific, she said. WASHINGTON -- A single woman adopting a child hardly raises an eyebrow these days. They all learned from each other. "It's a very difficult issue for many people," Mezvinsky said, then suddenly focused in on the woman's chubby, blue-eyed baby. That's not all the charges who live in their 35-room home on the Philadelphia Mainline. Some of them are adopted, some are stepchildren, and some were born to her. I dont gamble, but I do take chances, she said. It was sort of like that was the final affirmation that you know there couldnt have been truly heartfelt, deep personal relationships., Dating back to the time Margolies invited him and his wife to Renaissance Weekend for the first time, the lawsuit confirmed his nagging feeling that everything she did was driven by political calculation. I had gone to visit Son #3 on an At Academy for Jewish Religion, sacred arts include circus, Accused chef faces charges on several fronts, As abuse cases proceed against former Humble Toast owner, his career boasts are undercut, Reform synagogues join in Shabbaton to consider big questions and to celebrate, Federation launches Israel Now trip for eighth graders, Raising the militarys Holocaust awareness, JFNNJs Yom HaShoah commemoration to hear director of West Point center, Rabbi Zeilicovich comes out of retirement in Israel to lead a congregation in paradise. She was working as an occasional correspondent for four NBC programs, including "Today." I'm not getting anywhere." She quit working to spend more time with her sons. It doesnt work all the time, though, and I was sure that I would lose. And her staff is on her back to make fund-raising calls. Keep supporting great journalism by turning off your ad blocker. I love this!. Fox, who has been in state and local politics almost all his adult life, has tried to turn the Year of the Outsider dynamic back on Mezvinsky, saying of her 15 years as a reporter at WRC, "She's very much the insider from Washington, D.C. She went to Brown, shes married; she has three kids. "I can't believe you're so relaxed," voter Sandy Levitt marveled to Mezvinsky last weekend at a crafts fair where she was trolling for votes. Then the family returned. Margolies and Mezvinsky also have two biological children, Mark, 7, and Andrew, 3. We have a huge house, she confirmed. They say, How are the children?, What: Will talk about her new book, among other things. Holly. "I didnt know if and when I would marry. In 1973, an adoption agency sent her a photo of the 6-year-old she would name Holly, staring into the camera with a slight smile, holding a placard with her name . Annenberg Conversations: Joe Kennedy III and Marjorie Margolies "I could tell you if we ever had guests, Holly would walk in and shed say, 'Are we gonna adopt any of these people?'" She said, I think that she has unfinished business. (Tonight, were all on a first-name basis with the Clintons.) Whatever decisions that were made in the marriage, their life, political life, social lifeMarjorie was the head guy, she says. ", Andrew, also interviewed while campaigning, said he did not expect to be lonely for his mother if she has to spend most of the week in Washington: "There's always someone there {at the house}. 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 gave toasts that prompted acquaintances to ask whether she was a stand-up comedian. Whats it like being the son ofa major league baseball player? Danger lurks when a nations military deterrence fades. "She would see something she wanted in a restaurant window, and lie down in front of the door until we went in," Margolies said. "Now this is a beautiful baby," she cooed and segued on to the next voter. But when unmarried Marjorie Margolies picked up six-year-old Lee Heh 15 years ago in Korea, it simply wasn't done. 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. 'As I was getting ready to leave Korea, they said, 'we've picked a little girl for you.' Theres a sense of entitlement, says one politico who used to work with her. 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. 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! JCC on the Palisades in Tenafly, How much: $12 for JCC members; $15 for nonmembers. Her. When she filed for bankruptcy, a judge rejected her assertion of ignorance in a scathing decision that, depending on how you read it, either calls her feminism into question or suggests she knows more than shes letting on. They knew that not only did I want to do the story, but I wanted to adopt. ', She didn't care what society thought: 'It was really immaterial. The bureaucratic part of it wasn't easy. When she still was a reporter, Ms. Margolies did a series of stories on international adoption. "Now here's a great story," she said last weekend, introducing a couple of reporters to Rosemary Keane, who just quit the Republican Committee in the town of Ambler because she couldn't bring herself to vote for President Bush. She was just so easy, her mother said. Marjorie Margolies, 79, was a reporter for WCAU in Philadelphia. It was fun.". MOUNTAIN AVE. MONTCLAIR, NJ Seller: KINARD, DAVID M. & ELIZABETH F. 221 NO. "And a lot of those feelings she put in jars, figuratively speaking, and left them there.". She's so modern. Smukler dismissed the episode For the Clintons and this campaign, its never going to be enough for some people, he said. She returned home with the beginning of her own story a 7-year-old daughter named Lee Heh. Margolies, not unlike Bill Clinton, seems unable to separatethe personal from the political. Bill and Hillary came, took a stroll on the boardwalk and stayed for the party. At no point did I think I would win., It is of course impossible to know what would have happened had she not been the deciding vote on President Bill Clintons budget bill. The youngest children flocked to Holly. It all began when Marjorie Margolies got a reporting assignment in Korea. the mom of 11 kids shares how she became the first single woman in the U.S. believed to have adopted internationally. What would it take, Marjorie? Clinton asked her. It turned out a solid portion of the familys moneythey owned a 15-room mansion in Narberth, Pa.belonged to other people. Margolies (with Marc) at her swearing in ceremony in 1993. Marjorie Margolies | Annenberg She says she will vote for Mezvinsky. "And it was fun. Her TV series, airing on NBC stations Christmas week, 'Finding Your Home, Discovering Your Heart', traces Lee Heh's return to Korea with Margolies to discover the child's roots.'. She asks a lot. NBC-TV reporter Margolies surmounted both obstacles in 1970, after several years of effort. 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. The first single US woman to adopt internationally shares her - AOL But really it shows the similarity of human connection around the world. 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. When he thought it would help, a federal prosecutor toldthe New York Times, he would call and say, Im spending the weekend with the Clintons., Perhaps with this in mind, Margolies suddenly turns press-shy when asked too many questions about her personal rapport with the Clintons. In 1970, Margolies was a TV reporter when an assignment took her to Korea for. 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Holly Werth Obituary (1967 - 2016) - Boise, ID - Idaho Statesman She was always the most fun to be around.". And she was hilarious. 'Sometimes I feel it's the most selfish thing I've ever done in my entire life,' she says softly. Marjorie is the most amazing connector of and developer of contacts, says one friend. Margolies follows this remark by insisting that she doesnt know whether Hillary is running for president, before concluding with an anecdote about the time Albright busted a move with a younger guy at Marc and Chelseas wedding. Lee Margolies was born on 03/05/1964 and is 58 years old. I have been living Sunday, April 30, Brunch 9:45 a.m.;10:30 program, Art, grief, and living with and through tragedy, Israeli-born pianist, about to play at NJPAC, praises his teachers and mentors, Reflections on the root and meaning of spinal pain, Livingston shul to hear NCJWs national president outline the progress and challenges, Mom and Dad never felt insecure about Social Security. ", "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 Maasai dont ask you how you are when you first see each other, she said. Let me say, that there are moments where I have been laying on the sofa saying, 'why did I get into this?