After his son Tommy Raskin died by suicide, Rep. Jamie Raskin and his wife, Sarah Bloom, published a eulogy on Medium, detailing the life of their son, his struggles and successes, and sharing his poignant final note, in which he exhorted his family to take care of the “animals and the global poor.” They have since set up the Tommy Raskin Memorial Fund for People and Animals, to do so.
In a time in which so many people have died in the pandemic, something about this particular death struck a chord and moved people to action. In a humble Google Sheet, a list is growing of good deeds done in Tommy’s honor 1120 people in 42 states and 12 countries, and growing. Kari Hillstrom McDonough, who started the project, has also received many submissions on a Facebook post.
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By the age of 25, Thomas Bloom Raskin had already accomplished a great deal: He was a graduate of Amherst College, who went on to intern at the Cato Institute and J Street among other prominent organizations; a passionate vegan who wrote philosophical defenses of animal rights and converted those around him to giving up meat; a political writer who had essays published in
The Nation and elsewhere; and a law student and teaching assistant at Harvard Law School, who donated from his teaching salary to charities in his students names.
Tommy, as his father Jamie Raskin calls him, was also tormented by depression. Tommy Raskin took his own life on Dec. 31.
Saturday, January 9, 2021 by James Doubek (NPR)
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Jamie Raskin and Tommy Raskin in an undated photo. It wasn t his mind that marked him as so extraordinary, Jamie Raskin says. It was his heart.
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By the age of 25, Thomas Bloom Raskin had already accomplished a great deal: He was a graduate of Amherst College, who went on to intern at the Cato Institute and J Street among other prominent organizations; a passionate vegan who wrote philosophical defenses of animal rights and converted those around him to giving up meat; a political writer who had essays published in