Honoring the life and accomplishments of the late Robert E. O'Connor, Jr.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to offer this resolution honoring the life and accomplishments of the late Robert E. O'Connor, Jr.

Mr. Speaker, as you know, the city of Pittsburgh recently lost its mayor, Bob O'Connor, to a rare but deadly form of cancer. He checked into the hospital with what we all thought was flu in early July, and he passed away after a valiant fight against cancer on September 1.

Mr. Speaker, every cancer death is a tragedy, of course. What makes this death so significant is the impact that it has had on the city of Pittsburgh.

Bob O'Connor was a true son of Pittsburgh. He was born and raised there. He went to church there. He went to school there. He worked in the steel mills in his youth. He went on to great success as a businessman and entrepreneur. And, finally, more than 20 years ago, he began a distinguished career in public service.

Now, a record of public service like his deserves recognition in its own right, but Bob O'Connor was not your typical public servant. He was an intelligent, outgoing, charismatic man, widely respected for his ability to bring people together and for his commitment to the city of Pittsburgh. Everybody knew Bob, and I daresay everybody loved him.

Our community was excited and enthusiastic about the good things that he and his administration were going to do for the city. That is why his death has been such a blow to the citizens of Pittsburgh. I would like to take some time this afternoon to share a little more about this remarkable man with my colleagues.

Bob O'Connor was born December 9, 1944, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the son of Robert E. O'Connor, Sr., a truck mechanic and combat veteran, and Mary Anne Dever O'Connor, a full-time homemaker. He grew up in Pittsburgh and graduated from Taylor Allderdice High School in 1962. For the next 5 years, Bob worked in the Jones & Laughlin steel mill. During that same period of time, he courted his future wife, Judy Levine, who was also a graduate of Taylor Allderdice High School.

The two eloped to West Virginia and were married there in 1964, and they enjoyed 41 wonderful years of marriage together. They subsequently had three children, Heidy, Terrence and Corey, of whom they were both very proud.

Throughout his adult life, Bob was actively involved in his church and his community. He was active first in St. Philomena's Roman Catholic Church and then St. Rosalia's, and he served on the Board of Directors of Carnegie-Mellon University, Gateway Rehabilitation Institute, the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance, The Caring Foundation, and Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall.

In 1967, Bob entered the restaurant business with several of his in- laws, and over the next two decades he achieved great success in these endeavors, eventually becoming executive vice president of a regional restaurant chain.

In 1990, Bob left his successful career in the private sector to run for public office. He sought and won a seat on Pittsburgh's city council and served on that council with distinction for the next 12 years, serving as council president for four of those years.

Bob had a strong, clear vision for revitalizing the city of Pittsburgh, a vision that sometimes was at odds with the agenda of then-Mayor Tom Murphy. Consequently, during his years on city council, Bob ran twice unsuccessfully for mayor in 1997 and again in 2001. He ran strong, competitive races and came very close to winning, losing to Mr. Murphy in 2001 by only 699 votes.

In 2003, Bob left city council to serve his community running the Governor of Pennsylvania's regional office covering the southwestern section of the Commonwealth. But he felt so strongly about his vision for renewing Pittsburgh that he left that position after a year and ran for mayor for a third time last year. He won in a landslide, and he was sworn into office as the 58th mayor of the city of Pittsburgh last January.

This new administration was welcomed enthusiastically by all of Pittsburgh, and the mayor began to implement his plans for revitalizing our downtown, solving the city's budget woes and stemming the city's ongoing population loss. Even his political opponents wished him well and bore him no ill will.

Sadly, earlier this summer, just as Bob's efforts were picking up steam, he was diagnosed with primary central nervous system lymphoma, an extremely rare form of cancer. True to form, Bob opted for an aggressive treatment regimen that his doctors believed offered the best hope for a cure. The initial results of his treatment were promising, but in late August his health took a turn for the worse; and he passed away, surrounded by his family, on September 1.

Bob is survived by his wife, Judy, his daughter Heidy, his son Corey, and his son Father Terrence, and three granddaughters, Kennedy, McKenzie and Delaney.

I am pleased to note that Judy O'Connor, Heidy Garth, Corey O'Connor, Father Terrence O'Connor, Bob's granddaughters Kennedy, McKenzie and Delaney Garth, his sister-in-law DeeDee Pelled, his niece Maya Beck, and Judy's brothers, Larry Levine and Buddy Klemp, along with close family friends Mike Corey and Bob Jabonowski, are here in the House gallery today to witness consideration of this legislation, which I believe will be approved overwhelmingly.

I would like to recognize them and ask them to stand. I would ask that the House give its greeting. Thank you so much for being here. I am pleased that they could all be here in person to see the House honor a man they all loved so deeply.

I would like to ask all of the House to vote for this overwhelmingly because Bob O'Connor was not just another elected official. He was a man of great worth, generosity, vision and integrity. He was a successful businessman and a widely respected public servant with a distinguished record of service and a potential for even greater accomplishments.

His untimely death at the age of 61, so soon after beginning his first term as mayor, has deeply saddened the residents of Pittsburgh as well as his family and friends. I am proud to claim him as a good friend of mine, and I will miss him deeply. Pittsburgh has lost a promising leader.

I have introduced this resolution with my colleague from Pittsburgh, Congressman Tim Murphy, to honor Bob O'Connor's life, mourn his loss, and extend the House of Representatives' condolences to his family, friends and constituents. We felt that it was fitting that the Nation officially recognize his passing in this manner.

I urge my colleagues in the House to join me in paying our respects to this quintessential American, family man, businessman, man of faith, philanthropist and public servant, and in celebrating his remarkable life.

I would like to close by thanking Majority Leader Boehner for his help in scheduling consideration of this resolution in such short order.

I would also like to thank Chairman Davis and Ranking Member Waxman for moving this legislation quickly through the Government Reform Committee.

Announcement by the Speaker Pro Tempore

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding to me.

Now, you have to imagine what it was like to meet Mayor Bob O'Connor. He was not a man of great physical stature and height, but he made up for it with what one reporter, Rich Lord, referred to him as a large tuft of whipped cream white hair that stood high upon his head, and he loved to get out throughout the City of Pittsburgh. He was one that was very much hands on. Whether it was a set of stairs in the city that was falling into disrepair or checking out potholes or just walking down the street, there was Bob O'Connor. In fact, one of his last public acts was to be on top of a cherry picker

where he personally installed the first wireless system for the city because he wanted the Nation to see a wireless downtown Pittsburgh for the Major League Baseball All-Star game.

Now, he also had a plan going at that time to ``redd up'' the city. Now, for the purpose of the Record and for the Nation, it is important to know that in Pittsburgh this type of ``redd'' is spelled r-e-d-d, and it does not mean you paint the town red, but it is a term that means to make ready, much like, as we would say in the Burg, ``yinz going to get redd up for this event,'' meaning make things look good in the city. And that is, indeed, what the mayor was about to do, when suddenly he and his family were hit with a diagnosis that he had cancer, a very rare cancer of which there is really only a handful of cases that had been diagnosed in this Nation, and as rare as the cancer was itself so was the knowledge of the treatment for it.

Now, I worked with Mayor O'Connor over the last decade not only when he was on city council but also when he represented Governor Rendell for southwestern Pennsylvania and then finally as mayor of the City of Pittsburgh. I am pleased to have called him friend, although I found, attending his funeral that was packed at the cathedral, that so many called him friend, and, indeed, that only seemed natural because you could not help be around Bob O'Connor and not leave the room feeling that you had made a new friend forever. Indeed, this man's compassion for love and affection is one that I would see, that he and Judy's wedding would be measured as lasting an eternity and not just a few decades.

What struck me most about this wonderful, kind, and gentle man is he was a person who personified the best in what a public servant can be. He certainly was a gracious, affable man, a tireless worker, and a leader who sincerely wanted to improve the lives of Pittsburgh. I know whenever I talked to him about issues, although I do not personally represent the City of Pittsburgh itself, whenever we spoke about issues in the remainder of southwestern Pennsylvania, he would say that what was good for the city was good for the region and what was good for the region was good for the city. And because he took down those barriers, it made him all the more pleasant to work with. But in addition, he took down political barriers perhaps because, as a professional businessman, he worked for a couple of decades managing a chain of restaurants and he learned about the importance of putting the customer first. His people-oriented personal policy helped him set aside the politics in discussions.

He was perhaps most admired for being a man of his word. A handshake was a true contract. And all of us, unfortunately, live in an era of extreme partisanship at all government levels. When we sit here in this Chamber and we watch debate, too often what should be discussed as policy turns into rancor. Accusations fly back and forth, and as such, the Nation who may sit and watch C-SPAN or be in the gallery watching this proceeding sometimes wonder if we can get along at all. Indeed, we do recognize that we do get some things done in this Chamber, but it is unfortunate, actually tragic, that sometimes the issues of politics stand so far above policy that the public, indeed, just continues to wonder what is it that comes first. But that was not my experience with Bob O'Connor.

It is important to know that he was the kind of guy that perhaps the best compliment you could say about him is you never had to look over your shoulder because what you said to him would be held in confidence, would not end up in a newspaper or show up in a campaign ad. That was not how he did things. You knew that he was honest, congenial, and pragmatic. And even when Mayor O'Connor or President of Council O'Connor had conflicts, I don't recall his ever turning it into a public session of whining or political smearing. Rather, he handled it in a professional manner.

One of the ways that we can mark the hope that his death brought was comments made by his son the Reverend Terry O'Connor, when he said that ``This is a day marked with much sadness. It is also a day filled with a tremendous amount of hope,'' he said at his father's funeral, ``hope in God's loving and mysterious plan for my dad and for us all.'' He recalled a time when in the 1990s there was a big blizzard in Pittsburgh, and Bob O'Connor, being the sort of man he was, made sure all the kids got in their car, slipping and sliding and fishtailing a bit down the street to get to mass, saying there were about five or so other people in attendance, and he said, ``I guarantee you they all walked.''

Bob O'Connor lived the Golden Rule, believing to do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Indeed, that was his motivation for getting into politics. He wanted to help people. He helped start the Caring Place in Pittsburgh, a facility used to help children who lost loved ones, a place that is remembered by so many other people.

I will miss Bob O'Connor, as will so many people of Pittsburgh; of St. Rosalia Parish; of Greenfield; of everybody from the Giant Eagle, where he shopped, to the coffee places he got his coffee every day. We will miss him because of his generosity, his friendship, his kind Irish smile. But we are so very grateful for what he left behind, a wonderful caring family who carry on his legacy and, above all that, a Pittsburgh, which is a grateful, grateful town of Pennsylvania, which is a grateful State for not just what he left but for what he left all of us, inspiration and hope for the future.

Mr. Speaker, as part of the debate on House Resolution 983, I ask unanimous consent that the following statement from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl of Pittsburgh be included in the Record:

Bob O'Connor was more than just the Mayor of Pittsburgh. He

was our friend, and will be dearly missed. He left behind a

dynamic and exciting agenda for Pittsburgh's renewal. His

words and actions will serve as a model to my tenure as mayor

of the City of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Speaker, it is my pleasure to yield such time as he might consume to the sponsor of this resolution, the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Doyle).

Mr. Speaker, it is now my pleasure to yield such time as she may consume to the Democratic leader and the distinguished gentlewoman from California, Representative Nancy Pelosi.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the memory of Mayor Robert O'Connor, Jr. and to support House Resolution 983.

As has been indicated, Bob O'Connor's decade-long goal to become the mayor of Pittsburgh came to fruition this past January. Humbled by his political success, O'Connor stood at his inauguration ceremony before a crowd of supporters who braved subfreezing temperatures, and he spoke of economic renewal and of bridging divides that existed between various communities in Pittsburgh. His message of unification and revitalization was well received.

Sadly, Mr. O'Connor would have only a short time to implement his dream for the City of Pittsburgh. Six months into office, he was diagnosed with T cell lymphoma, a rare cancer of the brain and spinal cord. Mayor O'Connor's case was advanced, and his fight would last only 2 months. On September 1, 2006, Mayor O'Connor succumbed to cancer, and Pittsburgh lost a leader of business, politics, and philanthropy.

Like so many of Pittsburgh's native sons and daughters, Mayor O'Connor began his career in the steel mills. Hard work later led him to become a leader in business as the head of the Pappan chain of restaurants.

Mayor O'Connor's interests reflected his commitment to the city. By sitting on the boards of the Carnegie-Mellon University, the Gateway Rehabilitation Institute, the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance, the Caring Foundation, and the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall, Mayor O'Connor supported some of the finest organizations in Pittsburgh. All of the organizations gave to the community and reflected O'Connor's commitment to the public good and the welfare of others.

Mayor O'Connor's desire to give something back to Pittsburgh led him into public service in 1992, when he first was elected to the Pittsburgh City Council. He served on the council for the next decade, all the while attaining leadership roles that included two terms as the council's president. When he left the council, he continued to work for the public by working for Governor Ed Rendell. Those who knew O'Connor well said that O'Connor achieved his dream when he was elected mayor of Pittsburgh and that the victory represented O'Connor's sound philosophy of revitalization for the city, his kind demeanor, and a sharp intellect.

Mayor O'Connor is survived by his wife, Judy; daughter, Heidy; and sons, Corey and Terrence. As a true demonstration of his commitment to the public good, Mayor O'Connor's family requested that mourners who wish to express their condolences make donations to either the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Alliance or the Leukemia Lymphoma Society, two organizations he and his family cared deeply about.

Pittsburgh mourns the loss of Mayor Bob O'Connor and we join them today. I send my deepest condolences to the O'Connor family and to the City of Pittsburgh, and I urge passage of House Resolution 983.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Davis) for yielding.

I am honored to join our colleagues Mr. Murphy and Mr. Doyle to pay tribute to a great American. I thank Congresswoman Ros-Lehtinen also for her work for bringing this important legislation to the floor, important because we are honoring a person who made a contribution to every aspect of American life, who served as mayor for a very short time, a matter of months, not a full year, but although the time was short, the mark was a deep and a great one.

I had the privilege of meeting the mayor at the invitation of Congressman Doyle in Pittsburgh earlier this year, really the beginning of the summer, and at that time we had no knowledge of the diagnosis. In fact, the opportunity to be welcomed to Pittsburgh was one that I appreciated enormously. And the mayor made an impression from the start. As a mother of five children myself, I started to talk about my children; he started talking about his. He told me how proud he was of all of his children, of Heidy and of Father Terrence and of Corey, and he said, My son is a priest, my wife is Jewish. We have a mixed marriage, and you figure that out. But it showed the building of bridges, the love and warmth of a family and the support that they gave this very special man.

Bob O'Connor, Mr. Mayor, understood the private sector. He understood the public sector, and he understood everything in between. Community service, the nonprofit sector, where he was so active. So as the House Democratic leader, I want to rise and join Mr. Murphy and Mr. Doyle in a bipartisan way and associate myself with the wonderful remarks they both made about their mayor, the mayor of their city, and to extend condolences to Judy, whom obviously he had enormous respect, affection, and love for. He talked about her the entire lunch when he wasn't talking about Heidy, Father Terrence, and Corey, and about the great City of Pittsburgh, which he loved. He was so excited about the All- Star game, just talked about the All-Star game and, as Congressman Murphy said, how the city was ``redding up'' for the All-Star game. How I wished he could have attended it in the glory of the new mayor of the city. Instead, God decided that his mark would be a short one but, again, a great one.

And I am so pleased that the House of Representatives brings honor to this House in honoring Mayor Bob O'Connor. And I thank my colleagues for giving us this opportunity to pay tribute to him, to extend our condolences to Judy, Corey, Father Terrence, and Heidy, and to all who love and respected Mayor Bob O'Connor.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 983) honoring the life and accomplishments of the late Robert E. O'Connor, Jr.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the resolution under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, a lifelong resident of the city of Pittsburgh and a devoted husband and father of three, Robert E. O'Connor, Jr., brought compassion and dedication to every project that he undertook.

His political career began in 1991 when he won a Pittsburgh City Council seat, and his tenure with the council set the tone for the rest of his career.

Mr. O'Connor was passionate about giving the citizens of his city tangible results and focused on making neighborhoods safe, on cleaning up the streets, and giving city workers the tools they needed to do their job.

Mr. O'Connor became president of the council in 1998; and after waiting patiently while continuing to serve his city, he won the mayor's election in 2005. As mayor, Mr. O'Connor devoted himself to fixing Pittsburgh's financial problems and fostering relationships with the county and State governments. His leadership and friendship were what defined him to the citizens that he served, and one resident spoke of him by calling him ``a pillar that cannot be shaken.''

Just 185 days into his administration as mayor, Mr. O'Connor was admitted to the hospital and was eventually diagnosed with primary central nervous system lymphoma. He bravely fought the disease until he passed away on September 1, 2006; and he leaves behind him a legacy of integrity, compassion, dedication, and intelligence that the city of Pittsburgh will not forget.

I urge all Members to come together to recognize the remarkable life and accomplishments of Mr. Robert E. O'Connor by adopting House Resolution 983.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as he may consume to the distinguished gentleman from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Mr. Murphy).

Mr. Speaker, I urge all Members to support the adoption of House Resolution 983 honoring the life of Mr. Robert E. O'Connor, Jr.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.