An Oahu woman instrumental in changing state animal quarantine rules that discriminated against disabled people has died.
Patricia Eleanor Blum suffered blindness from a genetic eye disease but was active in a number of community causes, including being a plaintiff in a 1993 lawsuit that successfully challenged state rules requiring a four-month quarantine for dogs coming from outside Hawaii. She was 66.
Blum was born in Chicago and died on Aug. 11 in Honolulu.
Hawaii quarantine restrictions effectively prevented blind people from traveling with their service dogs between Hawaii and other states and countries. Blum and other disabled people charged that the rules ruined the service dogs’ expensive training and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The state Board of Agriculture eventually changed the rules to allow no quarantine for dogs, provided they meet a number of conditions required by state agricultural officials.
"It all is attributed to the blind people and people like Pat Blum who made it possible for us to prevail against the state quarantine program," said Michael Lilly, the attorney who filed the lawsuit.
"Pat was just a lovely person, somebody to be admired."
Blum learned at an early age to be an equestrian, and she competed in dressage and eventing, but she suffered from reduction in her peripheral vision until she was legally blind in her late 30s.
She was a real estate investor and served as a board director of the nonprofit group Eye of the Pacific.
She worked as a volunteer for the Battleship Missouri Memorial for 13 years until her death and on the Honolulu mayor’s advisory committee about transportation for disabled people.
"She was able to overcome so many obstacles … It was just remarkable," Lilly said.
She is survived by her husband Richard Blum; daughter Lara K.L.H. Blum; parents Harold and Edna Greene; and two grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled to start at 3 p.m. Saturday on the fantail of the USS Missouri at Ford Island. Free parking and transportation will be available from the USS Missouri information booth at the USS Bowfin and Arizona Memorial.
The family said donations may be mailed on Blum’s behalf to the USS Missouri Memorial Association, P.O. Box 879, Aiea, HI 96701.
