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Fall 2010

Miriam Gholikely Award:
Jim Gleich, Champion of Equal Access

Jim Gleich worked to keep AC Transit affordable and to ward off service cuts.

It’s no accident that the event marking the passing of Jim Gleich was billed as a celebration of his life, not a memorial. Because there was much to celebrate about the AC Transit executive’s rich career in the public service and nonprofit sectors, and especially his 15-plus years at the East Bay bus system.

Gleich came to AC Transit in 1994 as an employment and accessibility specialist, rising to become assistant general manager, and then, in 1999, deputy general manager for external affairs, a position he held until his death at the age of 66 in March of this year. Although it never slowed him down, a disability of his own no doubt contributed to Gleich’s strong sense of social justice and compassion for AC Transit’s less-advantaged riders.

“Jim Gleich was a plain-talking, no-nonsense advocate for public transportation who was genuinely concerned about people who are elderly, low-income and/or disabled,” said AC Transit Interim General Manager Mary King. According to King, Gleich successfully led campaigns for a series of AC Transit parcel taxes to keep fares affordable and ward off service cuts.

Gleich also was a long-time, active board member of the California Transit Association, where he played a leadership role in protecting and augmenting transit funding flowing from the state. “Jim Gleich was respected as a ‘voice of reason’ by legislators in both Sacramento and Washington, D.C.,” King said.

Among his many volunteer activities, Gleich was the driving force behind a scholarship fund targeted at low-income college students in AC Transit’s service area. MTC is honoring him posthumously with the Miriam Gholikely Award (named after a longtime MTC advisor and community activist) not only for his contributions to AC Transit, but for the entire sweep of a career that spanned four decades and took him to state and federal government offices, and a national disability rights organization.
— Brenda Kahn

Video Profile: Jim Gleich

Transactions Fall 2010 Issue: Contents