Lee Tolzman, Vice President of SPEAK is a mother of 5 who lost her youngest son, John, to suicide when he shot himself April 22, 1985. John was only 12 years old. After spending several years in the support group Seasons where she sometimes worked as a facilitator, she spent 3 years with First Step Youth Services speaking on Suicide Prevention. In 1999 she helped found SPEAK where she continued speaking at schools, conferences and community organizations on the subject of youth suicide. Lee passed away in 2009.

Loving mother, wife and community advocate. Carol Lee Tolzman, of Baltimore County, passed away on August 27, 2009, of cancer, at her home in Baltimore County. She was a graduate of Baltimore Friends School, and attended the University of Maryland as an English major. Lee was the backbone and Vice President of SPEAK (Suicide Prevention Education Awareness for Kids) and was the mother of 5 children, Kurt, William, Karl, John and Rachel and loving wife to Edward Tolzman. After the tragic death of her youngest son, John, who died by suicide at the very young age of twelve, in 1985, she immediately became an outspoken advocate in the area of youth suicide prevention. She spent several years in a support group for suicide survivors, Seasons, where she was an active facilitator. Lee also spent 3 years with First Step Youth Services speaking on suicide prevention helping to educate both parents and students with her touching story. In 1999, she helped found SPEAK where she continued speaking at schools, conferences and community organizations addressing youth suicide. Lee has been on radio, television, and has been written up in magazines and numerous newspapers. These are a few of the many celebrity and leaders Lee spoke with helping bring suicide prevention to the forefront, US Attorney General Janet Reno, Marylands Attorney General, Joseph Curran, Mike Walter of NBC cable affiliate WUSA, Kwasi Mfume, Gloria Vanderbilt, and she was invited to a bill signing with President Clinton for The Responsible Gun Safety Act Bill of 2000, HB279, which she testified for in Annapolis, Maryland, using her powerful story of her son Johns death by a gun. She helped to get emergency phones for jumpers installed and the Maryland Crisis Hotline Number seen on Maryland bridges today, 20 on the Chesapeake Bay and 6 on the Francis Scott Key Bridges. She was also involved with the first time bullying legislation, HB740, Safe Schools Reporting Act of 2004, which was successfully passed in Maryland. Lee and the other founders, who are also suicide survivors, took SPEAK in the early days from a small biweekly home meeting around a dining room table to the leaders of suicide prevention in the State of Maryland and are Nationally known and highly respected.