Longtime Arizona Democratic Party staffer Lubin dies
Barbara Lubin, a fixture in the Arizona Democratic Party and among Democratic circles, died after a bout with cancer Saturday. She was 63.
She had a back story for just about everyone in the party and every official.
“She knows the ins and outs of Arizona politics, not only Democratic politics but even Republican politics. She was sort of the go-to for everyone when it came to the history of the state, of the politics of the party, you name it,” said Enrique Gutiérrez, the Democratic National Committee’s Hispanic media director.
Most recently, Lubin was the Arizona Democratic Party’s director of operations. The party confirmed her death in a statement Sunday afternoon.
“She always had boundless energy, an infectious smile, refreshing laughter, and a fighting spirit,” the statement said. “This profound sense of emptiness will be with us for a while.”
Friends, colleagues remember Lubin as smart, funny, reliable
Lubin had an extensive and long career with Arizona politics that started back in the early ‘80s. One of her first bosses, Jim Weeks, spoke of an optimistic tenacity that was present throughout her life. He mentioned that whatever came her way, she was always “up about it” and “didn’t know the downside.”
That optimism was coupled with a “very dry, sardonic sense of humor,” said Robbie Sherwood, spokesperson for the Arizona House Democrats.
“She made me laugh every single time I talked to her,” Sherwood said. “She always had a very wicked, smart sense of humor.”
Her time as director of the Clean Elections Institute in the 2000s was a shining example of her passion and hard work ethic, said Michelle Davidson, state director for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema.
“She really did some transformative work there, defending the clean election system against repeated attempts to dismantle it,” Davidson said. “Barb was always really good at exerting leadership without being harsh or authoritative about it.”
Lubin was seen as a “pillar of knowledge and reliability,” Davidson added.
Gutiérrez, who said he shared an office with Lubin in 2016, explained that “Elected officials, party leaders, and members of the community that knew her so well would always come to our office, and they always came to see her, and talk to her and get guidance from her and vent to her, she was that type of person.”
She was also the kind of person who opened her life to all those that worked with her. “Barb was one of those people that, once she took you under her wing, she would do anything for you,” Davidson said. “My daughter was the flower girl at her daughter’s wedding.”
“She’s not only welcoming in terms of the party but even into her life. The fact that I got to know about her daughter, her husband, her granddaughter, granddaughters afterwards, it was just one of those things ... I saw how she cared,” Gutiérrez said.
Lubin fought cancer in 2009 and once again in 2019
Lubin leaves behind her husband, Stanley Lubin; their daughter, Jessica Hall, and her husband, James Hall; and their young daughters Abigail and Elizabeth.
“There was a time when my husband was deployed, I had an infant, and I got really, really sick and she literally flew out to come help take care of me. That’s the type of person she was,” Hall said.
The two spent mother-daughter time together shopping, cooking, and seeing Broadway shows while Hall lived in New York.
“She made some fantastic chocolate chip cookies and brownies and crepes. My grandmother’s family was French so crepes were a big thing,” Hall said.
In 2019, Barbara was diagnosed with a brain tumor, a type of cancer that she had fought and beaten before in 2009, according to the state party.
“Never at a loss for humor, Barb nicknamed the tumor Donald Trump,” the party said in its statement.
Davidson explained that Barbara was determined and that “when the cancer came back, she never let that stop her. She went to work until literally we told her she couldn’t go anymore.”
Lubin died at home surrounded by loved ones.
“The thing that mom really strived to do in her life was to help others and just make Arizona a really great place,” Hall said.