BONNIE LEFKOWITZ

1939 - 2021

LEFKOWITZ Bonnie Lefkowitz April 7, 1939 - December 16, 2021 Bonnie Lefkowitz passed away peaceably in her sleep at her home in North Beach, MD on December 16, 2021. A third-generation resident of the Washington, DC area, she graduated from Montgomery Blair High School, and from the University of Maryland in 1960. She received her master's in public administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. From her earliest years, Bonnie was a tireless advocate for racial justice and equity for underserved and minority populations. As an editor of the University of Maryland student newspaper (the Diamondback) she promoted integration at a local pizza parlor. After college, she moved to New York City, NY where she was active in local and national politics. She participated in voter registration efforts in the Deep South and worked on Robert Kennedy's 1968 presidential primary campaign. From the early 1970's until her retirement from public service in 1999, Bonnie's energies centered on improving public health care services for the poor and underserved. She began in the NYC Health Department, followed by 24 years in the federal government as a Principal Analyst with the Congressional Budget Office, Division Director with the Department of Health and Human Services, and Director of Research and Evaluation with the U.S. Public Health Service. As a colleague noted, Bonnie "poured her heart into reducing health inequities among people from different educational, economic and racial/ethnic backgrounds." Retirement did not slow Bonnie down. She wrote the definitive history of Federally-supported community health centers, Community Health Centers: A Movement and the People Who Made It Happen (Rutgers University Press, 2007), that "explores the program's unlikely transformation from a small...beleaguered demonstration effort to a network of a thousand modern...organizations serving nearly 15 million people". Bonnie also was a consultant on two equity advancing initiatives -- Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Policy Research Awardees and W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Health Scholars. And, she served as recording secretary on the board of the Holland Point Community Association. Bonnie was predeceased by her husband, William Frances Culhane; parents, Gladys and Jackson Feldesman; and brother, Johnathan Feldesman. She is survived by her stepchildren, William Francis Culhane, Jr. and Sharon Taylor Culhane; and grandchildren, Amanda Jean Davenport, Cade Francis Culhane and Reed Clark Culhane. A memorial gathering will take place in the Spring at the family's North Beach home. Bonnie was predeceased by her husband, William Frances Culhane; parents, Gladys and Jackson Feldesman; and brother, Johnathan Feldesman. She is survived by her stepchildren, William Francis Culhane, Jr. and Sharon Taylor Culhane; and grandchildren, Amanda Jean Davenport, Cade Francis Culhane and Reed Clark Culhane. A memorial gathering will take place in the Spring at the family's North Beach home.