Ex-Pittsburgh councilwoman Madoff-Scheske dies in Arizona
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PITTSBURGH (AP) – Former Pittsburgh City Councilwoman Michelle Madoff-Scheske has died of leukemia in a hospice in Arizona, where she retired and had remarried late in life.
Her husband of 12 years, Fred Scheske, says the politician – known in Pittsburgh as Michelle Madoff – died Saturday in Peoria, Ariz.
Madoff was elected in 1978 to fill the unexpired term of Richard Caliguiri, when he became mayor. Madoff served on council until 1993.
Even before her time on council she helped found the anti-pollution group GASP, or Group Against Smog and Pollution.
Madoff was born in Toronto in 1926 and moved to Pittsburgh in 1961 with her physician husband, Henry Madoff. Appalled at the city’s air pollution, she challenged local industries to clean it up and co-founded GASP, in part because the city’s then-poor air aggravated her asthma.