Social Work

Wilhelmina "Billie" Carter, 53, a longtime Germantown resident and community activist, died Friday at her home. She was well-known in her community for her devotion to children and her tireless work on behalf of her neighbors. She had been director of constituent services for State House Speaker Robert W. O'Donnell (D., Phila.) at his Greene Street office since 1987. In addition to helping O'Donnell in his first bid for state office in 1974, she also was a legislative assistant to former U.S. Rep. William H. Gray 3d. "Billie Carter had been a cornerstone in our Germantown community since I first met her in the early 1970s," said O'Donnell.

State Welfare Secretary John F. White Jr. has rejected a request by Mayor Goode to delay an investigation of the city's embattled Child Protective Services Unit, which has come under fire in recent months in the deaths of three children under its supervision. In a letter dated July 30, Goode requested postponement of the work of a 12-member, multi-disciplinary task force named by White last month to conduct the probe. Goode cited concerns about its composition and mission, and about whether the city would have an opportunity to respond to the team's report, due in mid-October, Welfare Department spokeswoman Vicki Smink said yesterday.

William E. Perry, 63, professor emeritus of social administration at Temple University, died Thursday of a heart attack while on vacation in Jamaica. Mr. Perry was a founding member of the faculty at Temple's School of Social Administration when the school was established in 1969. He became a professor in 1976 and retired in 1994. In his 25 years at the school, he served for a time as chairman of the social work department, as chairman of the graduate department, and as director of field work.

Philip Jaslow, 62, an associate professor of social research at Temple University who helped establish the first computer lab for the school's social-administration program, died early yesterday of lung cancer at Abington Memorial Hospital. Mr. Jaslow, who served for a number of years as associate dean of Temple's School of Administration, was a longtime resident of Abington. Jay Fagan, an associate professor of social work and a colleague of Mr. Jaslow's, credited him with establishing a number of scholarships for social-work students, providing guidance to younger instructors, and being "an excellent research teacher.

Joining "fellow members of the proud parents club," Vice President Biden told 150 graduates of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice Monday night that each can serve as a beacon of optimism in difficult times. "The thing that I love about you all . . . is that you believe in possibilities, the possibility that you can make things better," he said. He called that belief the "fuel" that has ignited social change. Biden's daughter Ashley Biden, 28, received a kiss on the cheek from her father when she went onstage at Irvine Auditorium to accept her master's degree in social work.

Teresa Ann Hagan, 62, a former teacher at Thomas Jefferson University and Hahnemann University, died of breast cancer Saturday, April 24, at her home in Schwenksville. Dr. Hagan "did research on substance abuse in pregnant women and their children" while directing a methadone program at the Family Center at Jefferson University from 1990 to 1993, said her partner, Kathleen Meyers. Dr. Hagan was also an adjunct instructor in Jefferson's College of Allied Health Sciences from 1992 to 1997 and an associate professor in Hahnemann's graduate programs in couples and family therapy from 1999 to 2001.

Ruth G. Cohen, 83, a pioneering advocate for the elderly whose community-based support programs helped countless Philadelphians grow old with dignity, died Thursday. In nearly five decades as a social worker and then director of services for older persons at the Jewish Family and Children's Service, Mrs. Cohen fought to make it possible for senior citizens to stay in their own homes as long as possible. She set up programs to provide them with meals, in-home nursing care and transportation.

Joining "fellow members of the proud parents club," Vice President Biden told 150 graduates of the University of Pennsylvania School of Social Policy and Practice Monday night that each can serve as a beacon of optimism in difficult times. "The thing that I love about you all . . . is that you believe in possibilities, the possibility that you can make things better," he said. He called that belief the "fuel" that has ignited social change. Biden's daughter Ashley Biden, 28, received a kiss on the cheek from her father when she went onstage at Irvine Auditorium to accept her master's degree in social work.

Andrew McClure, the youngest son of U.S. Rep. James C. Greenwood, was killed late Sunday after the car he was driving hit a utility pole on Route 413 near Landisville Road in Buckingham, police said. McClure, 23, of Erwinna, was pronounced dead at 11:49 p.m. Sunday by Bucks County Coroner Thomas Rosko. The cause of death was not immediately available yesterday. McClure's passenger, David Redpath, 23, of Meetinghouse Road in Doylestown, was treated at the emergency room of Abington Memorial Hospital and released yesterday.

Geraldine Rosenbaum Segal, 94, a civil-rights scholar and activist, died Tuesday of a heart attack at her home in Center City. Mrs. Segal grew up in Germantown and graduated from Philadelphia High School for Girls. She met her future husband, Bernard, while both were students at the University of Pennsylvania. "He was having trouble with his eyes. She helped him study by reading to him," said Bruce Rosenfield, a longtime family friend. The couple married in 1933. It was the beginning of a collaboration that would last until her husband's death in 1997.