Marilyn Praisner, a Montgomery Council member and three-time former Council president, died Friday morning at Bethesda‘s Suburban hospital, where she was recovering from heart valve-replacement surgery.
A former CIA analyst and School Board president, Praisner was in her fifth four-year term on the council, making her its longest-serving female member. She was named by Washingtonian Magazine as one of the Washington area’s “Most Powerful Women,” and was included in the Daily Record’s “Maryland‘s Top 100 Women” three times.
The council will set a date for a primary and general election to fill her seat, but county code says neither can occur before March 13, to keep 30 days between the Feb. 12 primary and the next election.
Her passing sparked a flurryof condolences from local, state and federal leaders, including Gov. Martin O’Malley, U.S. Rep. Al Wynn and Montgomery School Board President Nancy Navarro, most of whom knew her well enough to call her a friend and all of whom praised her work ethic and intellect.
“A newspaper headline from the 1990s – ‘Marilyn in Motion’ – said it all,” Council President Mike Knapp said in a written statement that described her as both a friend and a legend. “Her work ethic was incomparable. Her knowledge of issues was encyclopedic, and the Council regularly looked to her as its institutional memory.”
Knapp filled Praisner’s position at the helm in November, several weeks before he was scheduled to take the reins, after Praisner, suffering from pneumonia, crashed her car twice in single-vehicle crashes while driving back from a conference.
Council officials noted she had, “in typical fashion,” worked on council-related matters long into the night Tuesday before her Wednesday-morning surgery – even though it had been scheduled in advance.
She had told staff that though she’d be recuperating from heart surgery, she wanted to participate in meetings via conference call during the recovery process.
“Nobody in Montgomery County government ever worked harder, knew more, or cared more than Marilyn Praisner,” County Executive Ike Leggett said in a written statement.
