Schwartz, Allyson Y. (Allyson Young), 1948-

<p>In 2004 Allyson Schwartz, a longtime nonprofit health care executive, won election to the United States House of Representatives from a Philadelphia-area district. Her focus on results, and her willingness to strike an independent course from her party, defined her decade-long career in the U.S. House. “For me, it is … important to—where I can—work with my Republican colleagues,” Schwartz told a reporter in 2005. “That’s what the legislative process is all about.”</p>

<p>Allyson Y. Schwartz was born Allyson Young in Queens, New York, on October 3, 1948, the second of four children and the oldest daughter. Her father, Everett Young, was a dentist in Flushing, New York, and later Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother, Renee Perl, was a Jewish refugee who had fled Vienna for Holland in 1938 after Nazi Germany invaded Austria. Two years later, at age 16, Perl settled with a Jewish family in Philadelphia—about the time Perl’s mother died by suicide in Austria.</p>

<p>Schwartz graduated from Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1970 and went on to earn a master’s in social work from Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania in 1972. She married David Schwartz, a cardiologist, and they had two children: Daniel and Jordan. Shortly after Schwartz started her career, her mother Renee took her own life. Schwartz was 26 at the time. “My mother was very clear that painful experiences in childhood don’t necessarily make you stronger,” Schwartz later recalled, “which is maybe where my interest in children and family comes from.”</p>

<p>Allyson Young Schwartz (born October 3, 1948) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she served as a member of the United States House of Representatives for Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district from 2005 to 2015, representing parts of Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia. She was also National Chair for Recruitment and Candidate Services for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In the 2014 election, Schwartz was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Pennsylvania.</p>

<p>Schwartz was born Allyson Young in Queens, New York, to Everett and Renee (née Perl) Young. Her mother left Vienna in 1938 after Germany annexed Austria, and came to the United States, where she settled at a Jewish foster home in Philadelphia. Her father was a dentist in Flushing, Queens, and a veteran of the Korean War. She has a brother, Neal, and two sisters, Nancy and Dale. Schwartz graduated from the Calhoun School, on the Upper West Side of New York City, in 1966 and then enrolled at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Simmons in 1970, as well as a Master of Social Work degree from Bryn Mawr College in 1972.</p>

<p>She worked as assistant director of the Philadelphia Health Services Department from 1972 to 1975, and executive director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Center, a reproductive health clinic in Philadelphia, from 1975 to 1988.</p>