[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 172 (Thursday, November 2, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2105-E2106]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO J. RICHARD (DICK) SEWELL

                                 ______


                         HON. E. CLAY SHAW, JR.

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, November 2, 1995

  Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great 
Floridian and dear friend who recently passed away. J. Richard ``Dick'' 
Sewell, a former congressional aide and retired Washington 
representative for Florida Power & Light Co., died October 26 in a 
Washington hospital. He had lung cancer.
  A native of Orlando, Dick was well known and loved in Washington and 
Florida. He moved to Washington in 1963 to become administrative 
assistant to Congressman Charles Bennett, a senior member of the House 
Armed Services Committee and chairman of the first House Ethics 
Committee. In 1966, he served as staff coordinator for the ad hoc 
ethics committee and helped Bennett draft legislation which resulted in 
a permanent House Ethics Committee. He was a former president of the 
Burro Club, an organization of Democratic congressional aides. In that 
capacity, he hosted a 1967 visit to Capitol Hill by President Lyndon 
Johnson and members of his Cabinet. President Johnson, himself a former 
Burro Club president, reminisced to the membership at length about his 
own experiences as a congressional assistant in the early 1930's.
  Dick left Bennett's staff in 1971 to become director of public 
affairs for the National Association of Food Chains. In 1972, he 
assisted Senator Henry M. Jackson (D-WA) in his campaign for the 
Democratic Presidential nomination, serving as the campaign's executive 
director in Florida. He became director of Federal Government affairs 
for Florida Power & Light Co. in 1973 and was the utility's chief 
Washington representative until his retirement, due to illness, in 
1994. He was highly effective in energy, environment, and tax issues 
pending before Congress and Federal agencies, and was the author of 
numerous published articles on those subjects.
  In 1986-87, he directed FPL's campaign to establish a national award 
to recognize quality performance by American corporations. Partly 
through those efforts, Congress in 1987 enacted the Malcolm Baldridge 
National Quality Improvement Act, under which companies compete for the 
Malcolm Baldridge Award. Named for the former Commerce Secretary, the 
awards are given annually by the Department of Commerce to corporations 
of all sizes in various categories.
  Dick was a past president of the Washington Business-Government 
Relations Council 

[[Page E 2106]]
and the Washington Representatives Research Group. He served on the 
board of directors of the Public Affairs Council and as a charter 
member of the board of governors and treasurer of the Bryce Harlow 
Foundation. His club memberships included the Congressional Country 
Club, Metropolitan Club, National Press Club, Burning Tree Club, 
National Democratic Club, Capitol Hill Club, and the Jefferson Islands 
Club.
  After graduating from public high school in Orlando, he studied 
journalism at the University of Florida and received his degree in 
1959. From 1957 to 1959, he was sports editor of the Orlando Evening 
Star. After college, the joined the sports staff of the Atlanta 
Constitution. He later moved to Jacksonville, FL, where he opened his 
own public relations and advertising agency.
  A lifelong loyal Floridian, he was a former president of the Florida 
State Society in Washington and the Washington Chapter of the 
University of Florida Alumni Club. He received the University's 
Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1979.
  Dick was an avid golfer and sports fan.
  His survivors include his wife, Margaret ``Peggy'' Sewell, and their 
two children, Jane and Michael Sewell, all of Washington; his mother 
Bertie Sewell of Orlando; and a brother, Walter Sewell, also of 
Orlando.
  All of us from Florida will miss Dick, a great American, a great 
friend.

                          ____________________