The Insider

Rothrock also successfully lobbied for the mandatory posting of notices at restaurants demonstrating the proper execution of the Heimlich maneuver. That campaign grew out of Rothrock's saving close friend Jane Cherry, an aide to Commissioner El Franco Lee, from choking on, appropriately, a cherry as they dined at Ruggles. "If I'd had tits, she'd be dead," wisecracked Rothrock long after successfully executing the chest-hugging maneuver.

Photographer Carol Gerhardt's portrait of Rothrock staring down death in the Beth Yeshurun cemetery along Allen Parkway hung beside Char's bed in the weeks before her passing. The in-your-face determination captured in the photograph is the quality that Rothrock's friends and political opponents will recall most vividly whenever her name is invoked in the future. If there's one person The Insider can't imagine wanting to rest in peace, it's Char Rothrock.

A memorial service for Rothrock will be held at the Wortham Theater complex at 4 p.m. Monday, March 4. Former mayor Whitmire will be the main speaker.