44TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 1999

RECOGNIZING AND CONGRATULATING THE CANCER RESERCH AND TREATMENT CENTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER FOR ITS CREATION OF THE STEVE SCHIFF CENTER FOR SKIN CANCER.

WHEREAS, former Speaker Newt Gingrich said that Steve Schiff, "was decent in a way that Washington has almost forgotten. He had a softness and a humanness, a caring, nurturing side that . . . was very hard for people to associate with members of Congress."; and

WHEREAS, Steve Schiff was a tough former prosecutor in Albuquerque; and

WHEREAS, the columnist Jim Belshaw said cynicism had not touched Congressman Schiff, "He was always wearing both shoes and walking a straight line. Whether you agreed or disagreed with his politics, you always knew where he was coming from and where he was going to."; and

WHEREAS, Steve Schiff passed away last year of skin cancer; and

WHEREAS, the Steve Schiff center for skin cancer has been created at the university of New Mexico's cancer research and treatment center where he was treated; and

WHEREAS, this center is important to New Mexico and to skin cancer sufferers everywhere; and

WHEREAS, the center is being dedicated February 23, 1999;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BE THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that congratulations and recognition be extended to the university of New Mexico, to the Schiff family and the cancer research and treatment center at the university of New Mexico health sciences center for their devotion and dedication to Steve Schiff's memory through this living testimony to his contributions to New Mexico; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to Marcia Schiff and to the university of New Mexico health sciences center.