Ellen M. Bard, 60, former legislator

Ellen M. Bard, 60, of Abington, a former Republican politician in Montgomery County, died of pancreatic cancer Oct. 28 at her daughter's home in San Francisco.

Ms. Bard was an Abington Township commissioner from 1990 to 1994 and a state legislator from 1994 to 2004.

Endorsed by the Montgomery County Republican organization, she lost the 2004 Republican primary for the U.S. House seat now held by Democratic Rep. Allyson Y. Schwartz.

Born in Minneapolis, Ms. Bard grew up in Alaska and graduated in 1967 from West Anchorage High School, where she earned a Bausch & Lomb science medal and was one of two valedictorians.

Her husband, Rob Stiratelli, said that Ms. Bard earned a bachelor's degree in English literature in 1971 from Pomona (Calif.) College after spending her junior year at the University of Stockholm.

She earned a master's degree in communications research from Boston University in 1972, and from 1972 to 1978 worked with the Massachusetts Parole Board.

After earning a master's degree in 1980 from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management, she worked for the International Coal Refining Co., a synthetic-fuels joint venture in Allentown.

In 1982, she opened a computer-supply firm, which she sold in 2000.

In 1988, she organized Earthright in Abington, which helped her township's curbside-recycling program.

In 1994, Ms. Bard was elected a Republican state representative for the 153d District, covering Abington, Rockledge, and Upper Dublin.

Reelected four times, her husband said, she was the prime sponsor of 18 bills and at one time was chairwoman of the subcommittee on energy of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee.

In 2003, her husband said, the Pennsylvania House named her chairwoman of a public-private task force on 21st century energy policy.

Ms. Bard was a board member of the Montgomery County Lands Trust and, her husband said, established the Abington Trails Advisory Committee to help provide recreational paths.

A member of the Montgomery County Open Space Preservation Task Force, she was a member of the development committee at Manor College and of the advisory board at the Abington campus of Pennsylvania State University.

In 2002, the Pennsylvania Orthopaedic Society and the environmental organization PennFuture each named her its legislator of the year.

Her husband said the Pennsylvania State Tax Collectors' Association also named her its legislator of the year.

Besides her husband, Ms. Bard is survived by her daughter, Allison Bard, and parents, James and Elaine Bard.

A memorial was set for 10:30 a.m. Dec. 5 at Abington Presbyterian Church, 1082 Old York Rd., Abington.