Whether it was managing Cornell’s football team or demanding Internet from a Taliban member in Kabul, whenever Rosemary Stasek ’85 discovered something she wanted to accomplish, she pursued it relentlessly.

On Thursday, Stasek died of heart failure in Kabul, Afghanistan. During her life, Stasek served as council member and mayor of her hometown in California, co-founded an abortion rights group and spent her last years working to improve the lives and education of women in Afghanistan.

“She had strong convictions, she was independent, she was brilliant,” said Dennis Fischette ’86, Stasek’s longtime friend.

Among Stasek’s many accomplishments, she was best known for her charity, A Little Help, which focuses on “grassroots efforts to help women and girls impacted by the continuing instability in Afghanistan,” according to its website. Stasek personally funded the organization on her trips back to the United States.

Along with desks, lab equipment and art supplies, the charity’s recent gifts include tents to Afghan girls’ schools that were damaged or destroyed by Taliban attacks, according to the organization's website.

Stasek first travelled to Afghanistan as part of a delegation in 2002 — soon after the Taliban’s fall from power — when she was a member of the Mountain View, California city council. The trip inspired her to move to Afghanistan after her term expired in 2004 to work toward improving the lives of Afghan women, Fichette said.Her legacy: Rosemary Stasek ’85 gives the keynote address at the Outstanding Work for the Advancement of Women reception at Cornell on March 7.

But Afghanistan was a dangerous place to live, especially for Stasek.

In a country where few women drive, Stasek made a point of driving her car around Kabul without wearing a headscarf, Fichette said. Her tires were “routinely slashed,” he said.

Although Stasek suffered from multiple sclerosis, she insisted on staying in Afghanistan despite Kabul’s poor health care in order to continue her work. The lack of adequate medical attention likely combined with the powerful M.S. medications she was taking to cause her heart failure, Fichette said.

“We tried to get her back for better medical care, but she resisted,” he said.

“We wanted her out in the worst way,” said Paul Lesti, another friend of Stasek’s from California. “She really considered Afghanistan her home.”

Rather than focus on Stasek’s tragic passing, her friends prefer to remember her unwavering persistence and determination.

When Stasek first moved into her Kabul apartment, her Internet service provider would not connect her to the Internet because the apartment’s previous tenant had not paid his bill, Lesti said. She confronted the former tenant, whom she discovered was a member of the Taliban. The man refused to pay the overdue bill and told her, “go away, stupid American,” Lesti said.

Instead of going away, Stasek pulled out an AK-47 assault rifle.

“That got his attention,” Lesti said.

She forced the Taliban member into her van and drove him to the company to pay his bill, Fischette said.

After the Internet problem was resolved, Stasek drove the Taliban member out into the desert where she left him, Fischette said.

“She was amazingly relentless and persistent,” he said.

Before Stasek moved to Afghanistan, she was elected to two four-year terms on the city council of Mountain View, California, a city of about 70,000 people near San Jose. She also served as the city’s mayor in 2000.

During her term as mayor, she often rode a Razor scooter to city hall to meet with constituents, Fischette said.

“She was always an iconoclast,” he said.

“She was an energetic, committed and extremely talented mayor and council member for Mountain View,” Kevin Duggan, Mountain View city manager, said in a statement.

“Our community has benefitted from her tireless efforts and leadership on behalf of everyone, but especially those who are most in need,” said Margaret Abe-Koga, mayor of Mountain View, in the statement.

When Stasek was a student at Cornell, she was not “terribly political,” Fischette said. Instead, she became interested in politics after a U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1989 allowed restrictions on state funds used for abortions, he said.

Some people interpreted the ruling as a reduction of Roe v. Wade’s protection of abortion.

In response to the decision, Stasek co-founded California Catholics for Free Choice, Fischette said. The organization propelled her into politics.

During all four years at Cornell, Stasek worked as a manager for the varsity football team. Jim Knowles ’87, head coach of Cornell’s football team, played on the team while Stasek was manager.

“She was definitely a team member, as much as anyone on the team was,” Knowles said.

After graduating, Stasek always stopped by the football office to say hello whenever she returned to visit campus, Knowles said.

“She absolutely was in love with Cornell University,” Fischette said. “She always thought of herself as a Cornellian.”

Stasek came to campus in March as the keynote speaker at the Recognition Reception for Outstanding Work for the Advancement of Women. She was also a member of The President’s Council of Cornell Women, an organization for Cornell alumnae.

A memorial service will be held for Stasek on Friday, Oct. 23 in Mountain View.