WASHINGTON \u2013 The ONE Campaign released the following statement upon the passing of Mike Gerson, Washington Post columnist and former Bush Administration chief speechwriter. Mike served as a senior fellow at the ONE Campaign for over ten years, strengthening our work and inspiring our volunteers to commit to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease.<\/p>\n
Tom Hart, President of ONE<\/strong>:<\/p>\n \u201cTo say Mike had a way with words is an understatement, but how he used those words, in part, to advocate for the eradication of some of humanity\u2019s biggest scourges \u2013 poverty and disease \u2013 will have a lasting impact. Mike was an important influence when President Bush decided to launch the historic AIDS initiative PEPFAR and drove the creation of the President\u2019s Malaria Initiative. I wonder if he knew at the time that these efforts would save millions of lives.<\/p>\n \u201cMy conversations over the last decade with Mike have been one of the highlights of my time working at ONE. We at the ONE Campaign also knew he was a moving speaker, as he addressed our volunteers numerous times in his gentle tone, sprinkled with stories and frequent humor, always with a moral clarity about America\u2019s role for doing good in the world. He brought down the house. His written and spoken words were reflections of a brilliant mind and generous heart, reminding us what we are doing and why.<\/p>\n \u201cSecond to none were his family and friends. I am honored to have had Mike\u2019s friendship and wisdom over the years. Our hearts go out to his wife, Dawn, his two sons, Michael and Nicholas, and to all who knew him. He touched so many through his writing and the policies he inspired. He will be terribly missed.\u201d<\/p>\n The ONE Campaign released the following statement upon the passing of Mike Gerson, Washington Post columnist and former Bush Administration chief speechwriter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"contributor":[],"class_list":["post-160160","one_press","type-one_press","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n