[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: October 8, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                        TRIBUTE TO EDWARD PATTEN

                                 ______


                           HON. MARGE ROUKEMA

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 7, 1994

  Mrs. ROUKEMA. Mr. Speaker, the State of New Jersey, this Congress, 
and our Nation have suffered a great and tragic loss with the passing 
of former Congressman Edward Patten. Congressman Patten died on 
September 17, 1994, at the age of 89. He will be greatly missed by all 
of us.
  Mr. Patten's life was one of public service. He graduated from 
Rutgers Law School in 1927, and at age 27 became the youngest mayor in 
the history of Perth Amboy. He served from 1934 until 1940, when he 
became the Middlesex County Clerk, serving until 1954, when he became 
secretary of state under Gov. Richard Hughes, serving until 1962. Mr. 
Patten was president for many years of the Perth Amboy and Middlesex 
County bar associations.
  Mr. Patten went on to win election to the 15th Congressional District 
in 1962, the first year that that district existed following the 1960 
census. He was subsequently reelected every term through 1978. In 
Congress, he sat for many years on the House Appropriations Committee. 
He was a member of the Labor-Health and Human Services Education 
Subcommittee, where he was a strong champion of education. He was an 
impassioned fighter for expansion of Rutgers University and an advocate 
of Princeton University and particularly the Princeton Plasma Physics 
Laboratory. He was also a strong supporter of Roosevelt Hospital in 
Edison, where a three-story wing was named for him and his wife, Ann 
Quigg Patten, in 1991.
  Besides being an honorable and respected statesman, Mr. Patten was a 
warm and congenial individual. A big man with a gentle smile, he built 
his personal reputation on his great sense of humor, his congeniality 
and compassion and love for those he served. He was truly one of New 
Jersey's finest sons. He will be missed.

                          ____________________