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MENTAL HEALTH UPDATE - INDEX

May 13, 2007

Remembering Rick Tenenini

On Thursday evening, the entire mental health community lost a great friend and advocate when Rick Tenenini passed away. Rick oversaw the financing of community based mental health programs at the New York State Office of Mental Health. Rick was a true internal advocate. He was what was we call an ‘advocrat’ ---someone inside the state bureaucracy who was an advocate fighting tirelessly for funding and programs for people with psychiatric disabilities.

Rick was also a friend. When I was at the Office of Mental Health, I worked very closely with him on several projects. Early on, you could kind of get a sense of the people who cared greatly about the mission of the Office of Mental Health and cared deeply about the lives of people with psychiatric disabilities. I knew from the start that Rick was one of those people .He was the kind of guy who was incredibly smart, worked tirelessly and had a big heart. I often would be in meetings with him where we would talk about a concept and he would say, ‘look, you’re the program guy and I’m the money guy’. That was typical of Rick’s modesty because he was far from being only a ‘money guy’. He was also a person who saw the big picture and had a great sense of both the programmatic and financial aspects of community based initiatives. He has a long legacy of great accomplishments.

He was a great problem solver—the kind of guy who could break down difficult financial initiatives and make them understandable to those of us who were not experts in that arena. He also had a passion for learning---wanting to understand all aspect of a problem. He was not the kind of person who settled for rhetoric in response to a complicated problem. That was one of the reasons he was so good at what he did. He also had a great sense of humor—he took his job very seriously but never took himself seriously.

Rick was also a friend of the Mental Health Association movement. He greatly believed in our cause and was a great resource for our organization. He was always responsive to the many questions that I asked him over the years. Rick was also a very visible presence at all our public events.

Rick’s wife Kelly works at the Office of Mental Health and like Rick, she is a wonderful person and a great internal advocate. I know that she will continue their great legacy of work on behalf of the mental health community.

There is a Yiddish word that describe the kind of person who is filled with courage, wisdom and great compassion for others—that word is ‘mensch’ (the literal meaning is man). Rick Tenenini embodied all these traits and was a mensch in every sense of the word. I will miss you my friend.

The obituary in the Albany Times Union is listed below:

Tenenini, Richard D. REXFORD Richard D. Tenenini (Rick), 49, transitioned to Heaven on May 10, 2007.

Rick was born in Albany, N.Y. and graduated from Colonie Central High School and Siena College. After working in several NYS government agencies, Rick found his calling at the NYS Office of Mental Health. At the time of his death, Rick was the mental health financing program manager in charge of funding community based mental health programs.

Rick was committed to improving and expanding services and housing for people with mental illness. Rick had a special compassion for the mentally ill and worked enthusiastically to ensure they received decent housing, quality service, and a chance to achieve full recovery.

Rick's wife and best friend, Kelly Haskin-Tenenini will continue his legacy by working to improve the lives of people with mental illness.

Rick is survived by his loving family, father and mother, Louis and Rose (Costantini) Tenenini; brother, Rocco (Diane)Tenenini; sister, Lisa (Paul) Noles; father-in-law and mother-in-law, Robert and Lorraine Haskin; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Robert and Donna Haskin; nieces, Samantha Noles, Sierra Noles, Naomi Tenenini, Alyssa Haskin, Uncle Lee (Aunt Elaine Naylor) Costantini, Uncle Joe (Aunt Sue) Costantini, Aunt Rosemary Lozano, Uncle Eddie Tenenini, Aunt Mary Carnicelli; numerous caring friends; and many cousins in the United States and Italy. Rick was predeceased by grandparents, Dominick and Pauline Costantini, grandparents, Rocco and Augusta Tenenini; Uncle Dominick Constantine, Aunt Anna Prinzo, Uncle Nick Tenenini and Aunt Clara Canali Sallade.

Rick's family expresses their sincerest appreciation to the caring and compassionate medical and nursing staff at Ellis Hospital Emergency Room, Intensive Care Unit, and 6th floor medical surgical unit as well as to the care givers at Community Hospice of Schenectady.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. John's/St. Ann's Church, 88 Fourth Ave., Albany, on Monday, May 14 at 12:30 p.m. The family will greet family, friends and acquaintances in the church, prior to the Mass from 10 a.m. to noon.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in Rick's memory may be made to Mental Health Association in NYS, 194 Washington Ave., Albany, NY 12210 to continue their advocacy efforts on behalf of people with mental illness or to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 3049, Syracuse, NY 13220 to perfect the early detection of heart disease.