Rosemary S. Mumm, drug program founder, dies at 60 Times Picayune 08-18-2009 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ************************************************ Rosemary "Rosie" S. Mumm, who created and for 11 years led a nationally recognized diversionary program for first-time drug offenders in New Orleans, died Friday of breast cancer at her home in Algiers. She was 60. Ms. Mumm was born in Oak Park, Ill., and grew up there and in Franklin Park, Ill. She lived in the New Orleans area for the past 19 years. She graduated from the University of Minnesota and earned a master's degree in psychology from Northern Illinois University, where she contributed to a published study on drug addiction. She was working as a drug counselor in Illinois when she met her future husband, Robert E. Roberts, in Moscow on a civilian diplomacy trip to the Soviet Union in 1988. After they were married in 1990, she moved to Louisiana, first to Slidell and later to New Orleans. In 1992, Ms. Mumm was hired by Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. to create and lead a diversionary program for first-time drug offenders. An earlier program had been eliminated because of budget cuts, and Connick said he thinks the new effort was the first that used hair- testing to check on whether people in the program were staying off drugs. Ms. Mumm was "very dedicated" and "brought great ability as well as empathy for the people she had to work with" to the diversionary program, Connick said. "She was highly regarded by everyone in the community of those who dealt with drug users." The program, which she led until Connick left office in 2003, was cited by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy as a model for other jurisdictions. In the meantime, her husband founded Project Return, a program to facilitate released prisoners' reintegration into society and help them avoid returning to criminal activity. In 2003, Ms. Mumm was hired by Jefferson Parish District Attorney Paul Connick to develop an expanded diversionary program to include juveniles and other first-time offenders in that parish. She continued this work until her death. Besides her husband, survivors include four stepsons, Robert Ashley, Jeffrey Scott, Adam Craig and Joel Wesley Roberts; and a brother, Gregory C. Mumm. A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 3 p.m. at St. Paul's United Church of Christ, 616 Eleonore St.