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Margaret Tuchman
President
Margaret Tuchman was born in Budapest, Hungary and immigrated to the United States with both parents after the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. She graduated from Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey in 1965 with a BA. Margaret received her MA in 1970 from Newark State College with a degree in Personnel and Counseling.
From 1965 to 1980 she worked for the federal government and administered programs and provided educational counseling to economically disadvantaged people ranging in age from 16 to 60 years of age. From 1980 until 1996, Margaret was the president of a family owned real estate property management company.
Although she continued working, since the fall of 1995 Margaret found her life becoming more deeply involved with and learning about the People With Parkinson’s (PWP) community and their struggle to claim victory over the disease that impacted their lives. Margaret’s diagnosis in 1981 was not as devastating as that of many others, since she did not realize the consequences that waited her ten years down the road. Ignorance was a gift.
The "in-person" contact with political advocacy was a slow progression from the many hours initially spent on participating in the mailing of the Udall postcards; then organizing, contacting and cheering along those grass rooters who were already zealously "walking the halls of Congress;" to finally taking the giant step to join the ranks with the encouragement of wonderful friends.
In 1996, Margaret was honored to win the Lou Fishman Award from Parkinson’s Action Network for advocacy work in the community and Washington, D.C.
Margaret is the founding member and President of The Parkinson Alliance, located in Princeton, New Jersey. The Alliance is dedicated to raising money for Parkinson’s research. Since early 1999, the Alliance has been conducting fundraising events in the Princeton area and other locations around the country. Margaret takes great pride in the Alliance’s ability to make the unique guarantee that 100% of all individual donations and the net proceeds from all events go directly to Parkinson’s research.
In December 2000, Margaret had successful bi-lateral Deep Brain Stimulation of the Subthalamic Nucleus (DBS-STN). Knowing first hand the issues facing the DBS-STN community, Margaret recognized the need for centralized information to help educate the community and support its needs. In 2003, Margaret founded DBS-STN.org, an online community committed to helping improve the quality of life of DBS-STN patients and their caregivers. She is personally involved with every aspect of the site, including its forum and patient and caregiver surveys.
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