Re: Liz Birt Obituary in KC Star

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Birt

ELIZABETH ANN BIRT

" Liz " Birt,

49, of Wilmette, IL,

formerly of Kansas

City, MO, died unexpectedly

in an automobile

accident on

December 28, 2005,

in Aspen, CO. A funeral

mass will be

held at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, January

5, 2006 at St. 's Catholic

Church, 6415 Holmes St. Burial will

follow at Mt. Olivet Cemetery, 7601

Blue Ridge Blvd. Friends may visit

Wednesday, January 4 from 6:30-8

p.m. at D.W. Newcomer's Stine &

McClure Chapel, 3235 Gillham Plaza,

preceded by a rosary from 6-6:30 p.m.

A memorial fund has been established

to honor Liz's memory and leadership

in the fight for children suffering with

autism: the Birt Memorial

Fund for Truth and Love, at the

Thoughtful House Center for Children,

3001 Bee Caves Road, Austin, TX

78746.

Liz was born August 10, 1956, in

Kansas City, MO, the daughter of

G. " Gib " and Giovanna M.

" Jane " Birt. She was educated at The

Loretto Academy and Southwest High

School, and earned her BA in business

from the University of Tulsa, a J.D. and

LL.M. from the De School of Law.

She was staff counsel for Rush-St.

Luke's Hospital in Chicago, an associate

with the law firm of Ross & Hardies,

and most recently a sole practitioner in

Chicago, specializing in tax, corporate

and non-profit law.

Liz was a philanthropist and advocate

for children with autism and related disorders.

Her son was diagnosed

with autism in 1996. At the time,

little attention was paid to these children

by the medical community, and

there was little awareness about this

disorder, now recognized as a national

epidemic. Liz devoted herself to finding

the cause and cure for autism, a passion

that became her life's work. This

personal journey to understand her

son's condition led to her national leadership

in the burgeoning movement

among parents of autistic children for a

better understanding and treatment of

this disease. Liz founded Medical Interventions

for Autism, which funded research

grants that led to early breakthroughs

in treating some of the more

severe symptoms associated with

autism. In addition, Liz was a founding

director of Coalition for SafeMinds, a

leading national think tank and research

sponsor devoted to understanding

the cause and finding a cure

for autism. She was also a founding director

of the National Autism Association,

sponsor of a recent conference

that brought together scientists, clinicians,

and parents in an effort to find

answers that would help the children.

Liz was also a founding director of A-

CHAMP, a grassroots political action

committee formed to educate and advocate

for more money and services for

children with autism and against efforts

by the pharmaceutical industry to evade

liability for injuries caused by vaccines. Liz served as staff counsel

for a subcommittee

of the Committee on Government

Reform, chaired by Rep. Dan

Burton (R-IL) and was one of the principal

authors of the Committee's 2000

report Mercury in Medicine. That report

summarized the science relating to the

toxic effects of mercury, especially

when used as a preservative in vaccines,

to the developing brain and immune

system, and exposed conflicts of

interest and regulatory inaction and

negligence on the part of the nation's

agencies and institutions responsible

for protecting children. She testified on

several occasions before the Congress

and state legislators about the dangers

of mercury in vaccines about her own

search for answers as to how government

could have allowed, even mandated,

injections of such a toxic substance

into children, and a workable

treatment for her son.

Liz's loss will be deeply felt by the

autism community. A blog

(www.nationalautismassociation.org)

has been filling with pages of tributes to

Liz and stories from parents recounting

her tireless helpfulness to so many in

anguish over a new diagnosis, or in

search of treatments that would really

work, or doctors that could provide

help.

The memorial fund established at

Thoughtful House has two objectives.

First, it will support research into the

causes of and treatment for autism and

related disorders. Liz had been convinced

from the beginning of her own

investigations that science would

eventually reveal the truth as to what

caused her son's autism and treatments

that would help the hundreds of thousands

of other children, many of whom

are locked in a sort of cognitive and

communicative prison, as well as suffering

from a range of gastrointestinal

and metabolic symptoms. The fund will

also help families in need pay for desperately

needed clinical care.

Liz is survived by her three children,

, , and ; her father,

G. Birt; her two brothers,

E. Birt and G. Birt; her

aunts, Bartocci and Barbara Birt;

her uncle, Carlo Bartocci; her cousins,

Cristina Bartocci, Margherita Timelin,

Jeanne Snowden, and Jaci Birt; her

nieces, Betsey Birt, Meredith Birt, and

a Birt; and her nephew,

Tim Birt. (Arr; D.W. Newcomer's

Stine & McClure

Chapel, 816-931-7777).

Published in the Kansas City Star on 1/1/2006.

On Jan 1, 2006, at 11:28 AM, goldyer1 wrote:

> www.kansascity.com