Gabriel Zimmerman

Gabriel Zimmerman (STV '02), "community outreach director for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz. Zimmerman, 30, graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2002 with a degree in sociology. He was one of six people fatally wounded in Tucson, Ariz., in the shooting rampage that left his boss critically wounded. A room in the Capitol has named in his honor. He was also remembered at a ceremony marking one year.

His father Ross is determined that Gabe be remembered for how he lived, not how he died (including a charity a footrace). Gabe's fiancee supports banning large ammo clips that made the shootings possible.

Gabe took a course with Prof. Paul Lubeck on globalization information and social change, part of UCSC’s Global Information Internship Program (GIIP), which mobilizes UCSC students to work for civil rights, sustainable development, and social justice causes, while immersing them in the skills they need to succeed as organizers, from social entrepreneurship to web design. This ambitious young man was in good company among UCSC alumni; he was part of a group of former GIIP students who Lubeck described as a 'Washington crew.' Another UCSC grad from the program, Daniel Weiss, is chief of staff for Congressman George Miller (D-Calif.). Another graduate is Pulitzer Prize winning investigative journalist Dana Priest." More.

The Gabriel Zimmerman Meeting Room in the U.S. Capitol Visitor Center was dedicated (video) in honor of “Gabe”, killed at the January 8, 2011, shooting in Tucson, that left then Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) severely injured. Astronaut Mark Kelly, who spoke for his wife, remarked that Gabe, ran toward the victims when the gunman opened fire. He was the only legislative staff member ever killed in the line of duty and Speaker Boehner (who has done nothing to reduce gun violence) pointed out that the meeting room named in his honor was the first room in the Capitol complex to be dedicated to a staff member. Vice President Biden (who has taken the lead on gun control) also spoke, along with Gabe's parents.

12/15 update: Moved by Zimmerman’s commitment to public service, two UC Santa Cruz alums, Alex Clemens (Porter, '89, international politics) and Jonathan Klein (Merrill, '89, politics), created a scholarship fund in his honor. Now, Professor Emeritus David E. Kaun, a founding faculty member in economics, will match up to $20,000. The five Zimmerman scholarship winners to date are pursuing activities in social justice ranging from technology, medicine, and human rights.