Elizabeth Edwards (July 3, 1949-December 7, 2010) passed away from breast cancer on December 7, 2010 and will be remembered by all as a strong business professional, attorney, best selling author, health care activist, and political wife. Her life full of accomplishments is an inspiration to women all around the world.
After earning her bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina she embarked on her path to law school. She began her career as a law clerk for U.S. District Judge Calvitt Clarke and then pursued an associate position in the Nashville, Tennessee law firm Harwell Bar Martin & Sloan. Elizabeth married John Edwards the former U.S Senator from North Carolina and 2004 United States democratic vice-president nominee and changed career path again to work in the attorney general’s office as well as a bankruptcy lawyer in the firm Merriman, Nichols, and Crampton.
Edwards founded the Wade Edwards Foundation after the death of her eldest son, in 1996. The nonprofit organization helped create the Wade Edwards Learning Lab in Raleigh, NC. As a firm believer in health care reform Edwards testified before Congress many times and most recently spoke in front of the Senate subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts regarding the need for health care reform as it pertains to medical bankruptcy.
“What she did on health care policy will far outshine all the tragedies,” said media analyst David Johnson, CEO of Strategic Vision.
She joined her husband on stage during the 2008 political rally for candidate Barack Obama to announce she would be an adviser to his health care reform campaign. Edwards was named Person of the Year in 2009 by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization for her support of hospice care.
Edwards lived a life full of personal and professional accomplishments that will be praised and remembered by all as nothing short of remarkable. Her zest for life kept her spirits high throughout her cancer treatment. She has not only inspired women to raise to their full potential professionally but has also become a strong influence towards breast cancer awareness.
