Loretta Fuddy, Director of the Hawaii Department of Health since 2011, died in a small plane crash yesterday off Molokai. The plane's eight other occupants survived the crash. Among Ms. Fuddy's duties as the Director of the Department of Health was management and safekeeping of the State of Hawaii's vital records. Birthers have made her a central figure in their discredited conspiracy theories that assert that Hawaii does not have a valid birth certificate for its most famous son, President Barack Obama.
As Hawaii's Civil Beat notes, Ms. Fuddy had a long career as a social worker advocating for the interests of abused children:
Fuddy had a long and distinguished career in the field of public health before being appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie to lead the state health department in 2011. She served as chair of the Hawaii Public Health Association, president of the Association of State & Territorial Public Health Association and treasurer and secretary of the Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs.
During her career, Fuddy was recognized for her dedication to public service, advocacy on behalf of children and efforts to expand health care services for the poor.
"I'm a child of the '60s, the Kennedy era of 'ask what you can do for your country' public service and Catholic values," she was quoted as saying in an August Midweek article.
Last year, she received the Jonathan Won Child Maltreatment Prevention Award for her lifelong service in the field of child abuse. The award was presented by the Institute on Violence, Abuse and Trauma at Alliant International University. She was also the recipient of the Hawaii Outstanding Advocate for Children and Youth and the state health department's Sustained Superior and Exemplary Performance Award.
Amoral birther ghouls will surely show in the next couple of days why they are so widely reviled.
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Edit: added photo.