Obituaries

Christy O'Donnell, 47, a single mother with lung cancer who became a prominent figure in the California right-to-die debate, died Feb. 6.

Her brother Jay Watts told People magazine that she passed away at her home in Santa Clarita, north of Los Angeles, with her daughter, Bailey Donorovich, 21, holding her hand. He was by her side as well.

Ms. O'Donnell campaigned for a bill signed by the governor last year to make it legal for the terminally ill to seek medical aid to end their lives. The law is expected to go into effect this year, making California the fifth state in the nation to provide such a right.

Ms. O'Donnell in her final message posted on Facebook said that when she was diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer in 2014 it had metastasized to her brain and later to her spine, rib, and liver. She said she took advantage of medical science to prolong her life.

"Yet, I have suffered more emotional and physical pain than anyone should have to endure," she wrote. "My daughter and I fought very hard during the last months of my life to try to bring about positive change in this World. My daughter has unselfishly given up her time with me to all of you, so that no child will ever again have to watch the person they love suffer at their death. I ask you all to continue making your voices heard for those who are suffering."

The former Los Angeles police officer, who later became a civil rights lawyer, testified before state lawmakers and filed a lawsuit in a state court last year so California residents who are terminally ill could legally obtain life-ending drugs from a doctor when they determined the time was right.

Religious groups and advocates for people with disabilities opposed the bill.

Ms. O'Donnell vowed repeatedly to never break the law. Watts told the magazine that had the law been in effect she would have "taken the option a month ago when her seizures started." - AP

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Shari Berenbach, 64, a former official with the U.S. Agency for International Development who had served as president of the U.S. African Development Foundation since 2012, died Feb. 7 at her home in Bethesda, Md. The cause was breast cancer, said her husband, James Heaney.

Ms. Berenbach was the director of the Microenterprise and Private Enterprise Promotion office at USAID for two years before joining the African Development Foundation, an independent federal agency that awards grants to community groups and small businesses on the continent.

At both agencies, she focused on microfinance initiatives, which provide low-income individuals and small businesses with loans and other financial services.

From 1997 to 2010, she was president of the Calvert Foundation, a nonprofit investment company in Bethesda started by the founders of the Calvert Group mutual fund company. Under her direction, the organization grew to invest more than $500 million in nonprofits and small businesses around the world with the aim of reducing poverty.

Ms. Berenbach, a Los Angeles native, graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1974 with a bachelor's degree in political science. She received a master's in Latin American studies from UCLA in 1982 and an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1990.

In addition to her husband of 23 years, survivors include a daughter, Moriah Heaney; and a brother and sister. - Washington Post