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1994.03.07 : Appointment of Executive Director, President's Committee on Mental Retardation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE              Contact:  Don Collins
Monday, March 7, 1994                        (202) 401-1123

     HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today named Gary H. Blumenthal
to be executive director of the President's Committee on Mental 
Retardation (PCMR).  The committee advises President Clinton and 
Secretary Shalala on programs and services relating to persons with
mental retardation.  

     "Gary Blumenthal's active legislative leadership and advocacy
on behalf of persons with mental retardation will be an enormous
asset for the Clinton administration," said Shalala.

     Prior to his appointment to PCMR, Blumenthal served as the
23rd District member of the Kansas House of Representatives from
January 1983 to September 1993.  There, Representative Blumenthal
provided leadership in issues relating to disability and education
policy; served as chairperson of the Kansas Joint House and Senate
Task Force on Social and Rehabilitation Services; chairperson,
Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Sub-Committee; and
chairperson, Kansas House Governmental Organization Committee.  In
1992 and 1993 he served as chairperson of the National Conference
of State Legislatures (NCSL) Task Force on Developmental
Disabilities.

     Blumenthal was a social studies and American Government
teacher in the Shawnee Mission (Kansas) Public Schools from
1976-1987 and 1992-1993; director of managed care, Charter
Psychiatric Hospital, 1989-1991; and director of development,
Jewish Family and Children's Services, 1987-1989.

     "Gary Blumenthal will help to address key areas that will
advance the treatment and rights of persons with mental
retardation," said Mary Jo Bane, assistant secretary for children
and families, to whom Blumenthal reports at HHS.

     Blumenthal has been the recipient of numerous advocacy awards
including:  Outstanding Public Official of the Year: Kansas
Disability Caucus (1992), National Association of Social Workers
(1992), Kansas ARC (1991) and others. 

     Blumenthal received his master of arts in educational
administration from the University of Missouri at Kansas City in
1992, and a bachelor of arts in education-social studies at the
University of Kansas, 1976.