Tommy wrote at length about philosophy and animal rights he thought about how human lives should be measured against those of animals and animal suffering. Nobody in our family was a vegetarian and now everybody is.' 'I mean, Tommy, he felt all of the pain and the suffering in the world, which is how, of course, he found his way quickly to vegetarianism. 'We've been hearing stories like this ever since it happened,' Rep. If you or someone you know may be considering suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-80 (En Español: 1-88 Deaf and Hard of Hearing: 1-80) or the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741.Ī neighbor wrote to the Raskin family about a time that Tommy organized a group dinner in high school when he learned that one of his classmates didn't have a date to the prom, so that the boy wasn't left out. Tributes to Tommy have poured in in the past days. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Takoma Park, represents Maryland's 8th Congressional District in Congress. The stories of his love and compassion are absolutely astounding.'

But it wasn't his mind that marked him as so extraordinary. 'He had a photographic memory, and like some other kids in our family, knew all the presidents and vice presidents in order. 'Tommy was remarkable from the beginning,' Jamie Raskin tells NPR's Scott Simon. Tommy, as his father Jamie Raskin calls him, was also tormented by depression. By the age of 25, Thomas Bloom Raskin had already accomplished a great deal: He was a graduate of Amherst College, who went on to intern at the Cato Institute and J Street among other prominent organizations a passionate vegan who wrote philosophical defenses of animal rights and converted those around him to giving up meat a political writer who had essays published in the Nation and elsewhere and a law student and teaching assistant at Harvard Law School, who donated from his teaching salary to charities in his students' names.

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