Md. Senator Known for Putting People First

Civil Rights Activist's Sudden Death Stuns Admirers, Political Colleagues

Her whole life, Sen. Gwendolyn T. Britt was a quiet fighter.

The Prince George's County senator, 66, endured 40 days in jail when she sat down in a whites-only train station waiting room in Mississippi as a Freedom Rider. She accepted arrest for riding a segregated merry-go-round in Glen Echo Park in 1960. So, when paramedics took her shivering and sick to the hospital early yesterday, her husband said "she was literally fighting."

But at 4 a.m., as she lay on a gurney waiting to be admitted to Doctor's Community Hospital in Lanham, she reached out to her husband and died quietly. She apparently suffered heart failure or a stroke, Travis Britt said.

"She put her hand over my hand as they tried to revive her," he said yesterday.

News of Britt's death sent shock waves throughout the Prince George's political establishment as friends and colleagues searched for words to describe their sudden loss.

"It's a great tragedy. She was not just a public servant, but a civil rights hero," U.S. Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D) said yesterday. "It's a stunning loss to all of us."

"The whole Senate is devastated," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), whose district includes part of Prince George's. He added that her leadership on issues such as education, health care and civil rights was unmatched. "We've been proud of her, enjoyed working with her and will miss her greatly."

Britt, who was entering her fifth year in the Senate, was a mother of two and grandmother of five who lived in Hyattsville and represented Landover Hills, Langley Park and Adelphi. Before joining the Senate in 2003, Britt was known for community activism.

"Senator Gwendolyn Britt was smart, hard-working, dedicated and honest. She was a true public servant," Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) said in a statement. "The Maryland State Senate and the entire General Assembly will not be the same without her."

In her district, she was remembered as a politician who rarely sought the limelight but was thrust into a role of prominence because of others' respect for her.

"She provides a lesson of not being guided by position and ambition, but being guided by purpose," said Prince George's County Council Chairman David C. Harrington (D-Cheverly), whose district overlapped Britt's. "It's not about beating your chest and making sure you're seen and how you use power but about being in touch with the needs of the people."

County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D), who became friends with Britt years ago through her husband, released a statement calling her death a "tragic loss."