Bonnie Reiss, Schwarzenegger aide, UC regent, dies

From today's Sacramento Bee website: Bonnie Reiss, a senior adviser to former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration and a member of the University of California Board of Regents, died early Tuesday after a yearlong battle with cancer. She was 62.

"Bonnie Reiss was a true treasure to California, the United States, the world, and everyone she has ever met," Schwarzenegger said in a Facebook post Tuesday. "I have never met anyone with more energy for helping others and improving the world around her. Sadly, cancer was immune to all of her immeasurable strengths."

A Democratic attorney and campaign strategist, Reiss was a friend of Schwarzenegger and wife Maria Shriver for decades. She was one of his early confidantes upon assuming the governorship after winning the 2003 recall election. He appointed her to the regents in 2008.

Reiss and Shriver first met working on the campaign to elect Shriver's uncle, Ted Kennedy, to the presidency in 1980.

UC President Janet Napolitano, in a statement, said UC "has lost one of its most passionate, caring, and effective advocates … She worked tirelessly on behalf of this institution that she so loved. Our students, faculty, and staff … have benefited from Bonnie's efforts to improve policies that combat sexual harassment and sexual assault, and her work to ensure that California's public research university maintains its academic excellence while remaining accessible to our state's students."

Source: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article207805839.html