Ex-assemblywoman Brookman dies

Cy Ryan and Ed Koch

Friday, July 2, 2004 | 11:09 a.m.

Former eight-term Assemblywoman Eileen Brookman, described as a voice for the poor, seniors and minorities, died Thursday night at her home in Las Vegas after a battle with cancer and pneumonia. She was 82.

Brookman had a long history of public service, including 16 years in the Assembly and serving as a member of the state Indian Affairs Commission, as chairwoman of the Taxicab Authority and on the Las Vegas Ethics Review Board.

Brookman gave up her career in the Assembly in 1990 to care for her son, Michael, who was awaiting a heart transplant and died in 1995.

Services for the former Assemblywoman are pending. Palm Mortuary on Main Street is handling the arrangements.

"Brookie was one of my favorites -- she was a champion of women's rights," said former Assembly Speaker Joe Dini of Yerington. "She fought for the oppressed and the poor."

Dini recalled that she dressed mostly in orange. And she was the leader of a protest to an order by then Assembly Speaker Lawrence Jacobsen, R-Minden, that prohibited female Assembly members from wearing slacks. That directive was lifted after the protest.

Colleen O'Callaghan Miele, daughter of late two-term Democratic Gov. Mike O'Callaghan, the Sun's chairman who died in March, said her father and mother found "a home away from home" in the company of Eileen and her husband, George Brookman, a longtime prominent local businessman.

"She was our family's little Yiddish mama and our confidant," Miele said. "The families spent all of the holidays -- Christian and Jewish -- together.

"She was an example for the women in our family showing us that you can be a mother and wife and still serve your city, community and state. She would rally around causes and encourage us to fight the good fight."

Assemblyman John Marvel, R-Battle Mountain, said he was "sincerely sorry" about her passing.

"She was passionate about the Native Americans," he said. He recalls that "everything she did, she did in orange."

First elected to the Assembly in 1965, she served until 1977. She did not run again until 1986, when she won a seventh term.

Re-elected in 1988, she also was remembered for sponsoring a bill to eliminate pay toilets in public buildings and for supporting hospital cost containment legislation designed to lower health care expenses.

She was vice chairwoman of the Legislative Functions Committee and served on the Government Affairs Committee, Health and Welfare Committee and Education Committee.

Clark County Commissioner Myrna Williams, who served with Brookman in the Legislature, knew her for 40 years.

"She was afraid of nothing," Williams said.

Brookman, who had the nickname of "Queenie," had "the courage to take on issues that other people could not imagine how important they were," she said.

Brookman sponsored legislation on hate crimes and "was there for everything for people who needed help," Williams said.

Former Assemblyman Jim Spinello of Las Vegas said Brookman was "the embodiment of a citizen legislator."

He said she had strong beliefs and worked hard.

"She was warm and pleasant and tried to work for solutions," he said.

Spinello recalled that Brookman, who was short, used to quip, "I work for the little people."

In addition to her husband, George, with whom she would have celebrated their 63rd wedding anniversary on July 11, she is survived by her daughter, Deborah of Las Vegas.