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Former state Sen. Shirley M. Kitchen, a trailblazing legislator who spent two decades representing North Philadelphia in Harrisburg and who broke barriers when elected to the Pennsylvania Senate, has died at the age of 79.
Kitchen’s death was announced Sunday, prompting an outpouring of tributes from elected officials, former colleagues and community leaders who remembered her as a relentless advocate for underserved neighborhoods and a mentor to generations of Philadelphia politicians.
Mayor Cherelle Parker called Kitchen “a powerful, effective advocate for her constituents and for all of Philadelphia.”
“Food insecurity, health care, public transportation, restorative justice, voting rights — Senator Kitchen was always on the front lines on important issues, fighting for people who often had no one else to fight for them,” Parker said in a post on social media.
Pennsylvania state Rep. Kenyatta Johnson, who served as a legislative aide in Kitchen’s state Senate office, called her an “icon” as well as “a mentor, a friend, a surrogate grandmother” to him, adding that “no one did more to make good on this country’s promises than Shirley Kitchen did in North Philadelphia.”
“Senator Kitchen never forgot who she was fighting for, and she dedicated her life to making sure families had greater access to opportunity, quality healthcare, education, and a government that worked for everyone,” he said in a social media post. “Today is so hard.”
Born in Augusta, Georgia, on Sept. 18, 1946, Kitchen moved to Philadelphia as a child and was educated in the city’s public schools. She received her undergraduate degree from Antioch College and later attended Temple University. She became a social worker before serving as director of constituent services for then-Philadelphia City Council President John F. Street.