BARBARA BELCHER TASSEY Resident of El Cerrito October 13, 1927 - April 23, 2013 A former resident of Fair Oaks, Barbara was born and raised in Los Angeles, the daughter of Frank and Anna Weidauer Belcher. A 1949 graduate of Occidental College, Los Angeles, she majored in education and is remembered as a student leader there. Barbara taught school off-and-on for several years, but with her children raised, she returned to school to obtain a master's degree in public administration at USC's State Capital Center in Sacramento in 1976. That year she was hired by California State Assemblyman & Speaker Pro Tempore, John T. Knox, to serve on his legislative staff, where she served for four years, rising to the position of chief of staff. In 1980, she was appointed by State Treasurer Jesse M. Unruh as the first executive director of the California Health Facilities Financing Authority, a position she held for nine years while overseeing the issuance of more than $5 billion in tax exempt bonds to provide financial assistance to public & not-for-profit health providers in the state. While serving as authority director under her professional name, Barbara Gordon Smith, she was the only woman in that capacity among similar authorities in the nation. Prior to her retirement from State government in 1992, she was appointed by Assembly Speaker Willie L. Brown, Jr., to a position in the Assembly Office of Research, where she served for about two years. Barbara will be lovingly remembered for her enthusiasm for living, good humor, focus on any task at hand and for the beauty of her spirit. Her passions included, foremost, love for her family, then dancing, her dogs, and support for environmental causes. She is survived by her husband of 26 years, Hugh Tassey; her sons, Edward Parker and Stephen Parker, step-children, Barbara Houser, Ann Tyler, Katherine Heinz, William Tassey and Joan Tassey, daughters-in-law Sharon Parker & Maria Parker and nine grandchildren and step-grandchildren. Barbara may be remembered with donations to the Alzheimer's Association . A memorial service is planned.

Published in Sacramento Bee on April 28, 2013