The National Senior Citizens Law Center lost a treasured, respected and beloved colleague, Herbert Semmel, who died on February 5, 2004 of cancer. We mourn his loss, as do so many who knew him across the nation.

Herb was staff attorney at the National Senior Citizens Law Center (NSCLC) in Los Angeles for 11 years.  He founded NSCLC's Federal Rights Project, which develops legal strategies to limit recent court decisions curtailing individuals' ability to enforce their federal rights.

Before joining NSCLC, Herb served as litigation director of New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, which pursues health, disability and housing cases for that city's poor; and director of the Center for Law and Social Policy in Washington DC, one of the country's first public interest law firms.  He was professor at seven law schools, including the University of Illinois-Urbana, the University of Texas at Austin, and UCLA.  An honors graduate of New York University and Harvard Law School, he authored numerous articles and books; pioneered the use of health, social welfare and poverty law in law school curricula; and filed the first case under the Americans with Disabilities Act - against the Empire State Building.