Pete Rawlings - Legacy

Legacy

Less than a month before his death, Rawlings was named the national education Policy Leader of the Year by the National Association of State Boards of Education (NASBE). At the award ceremony in Baltimore, Brenda Welburn, NASBE Executive Director said "Delegate Rawlings has been a long-time champion of expanding educational opportunities and access for all of Maryland's students. He has also been in the national forefront of insisting upon greater accountability from our education system, both of teacher performance and student achievement, as well as focusing on closing the achievement gap among minority students. In demanding resources for results, his overriding concern has always been focused on best helping students succeed".

Delegate Rawlings succumbed to cancer on November 14, 2003. Two days after his death, the Baltimore Sun ran an editorial entitled "Pete" which included this quote: "With the death of Del. Howard P. "Pete" Rawlings, Maryland lost an extraordinarily gifted leader and one of the most accomplished politicians of his era - known for both a tight fist and a caring heart." During the first legislative session after his death, Delegate Rawlings was recognized with the First Citizen Award of the Maryland Senate. The Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory and Botanic Gardens of Baltimore and the Howard P. Rawlings Residence and Dining Hall at Morgan State University have been named in his honor.

"A politician worries about the next election. A true statesman worries about the next generation, and children yet unborn, and that was Pete Rawlings."

-Congressman Elijah Cummings

His daughter, Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, assumed the office of Mayor of Baltimore on February 4, 2010, following the resignation of Mayor Sheila Dixon.