Alfred J. Chiplin, Jr. (Chip) was a beloved and admired leader in the elder law, disability, and health care rights communities. He was also the long-time Managing Attorney of the Center’s Washington, DC office. To honor Chip’s advocacy and commitment to civility and justice for all, the Center for Medicare Advocacy established an award in his honor. The Alfred J. Chiplin, Jr. Social Justice & Advocacy Award is given annually to an individual who works to advance civility in society and social justice for all – as Chip did over his 40-year career as an attorney.
Chip worked tirelessly for systemic change. As a key architect of the Center’s ongoing commitment to ensure Medicare access for people with chronic, debilitating, and long-term conditions, his influence is still felt in everything we do. Chip brought his full humanity to the work that he loved. As an ordained minister, a choral singer, pianist, and poet, he graced us with his light and effortless smile. He treated everyone he encountered with respect and kindness. His spirit is captured in his own words, in a poem he called “Embrace and Dream:”
When you consider the sky,
reach with all you have,
give of your very best
and taste your dreams.
Chip lived a life that was true to his words and reminds us to give our very best, as he did every day.