[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 112 (Friday, August 1, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1608-E1609]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        IN HONOR OF U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE CLARKSON S. FISHER, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. FRANK PALLONE, JR.

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 31, 1997

  Mr. PALLONE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the late 
U.S. District Judge Clarkson S. Fisher, Jr. Judge Fisher passed away on 
Sunday, July 27, at the age of 76, after battling cancer for the past 
several months.
  Mr. Speaker, the death of Judge Fisher is for me the cause of great 
personal sadness. I was an intern for Judge Fisher in law school, and 
he had a major impact on my career. Judge Fisher instilled in me a deep 
appreciation for how the law can and should be a means for attempting 
to resolve the real difficulties and conflicts that touch people's 
lives, and for achieving justice in the very best sense of that word. 
He was a great inspiration.
  Judge Fisher was a native of my hometown of Long Branch, NJ. He was 
active in local government in the neighboring community of West Long 
Branch, served in the New Jersey

[[Page E1609]]

State Assembly and was a trustee of Monmouth College, now university. A 
graduate of the University of Notre Dame, and its law school, Judge 
Fisher was awarded the Justice William J. Brennan Award in 1989 from 
the Association of the Federal Bar of New Jersey.
  Judge Fisher was a Monmouth County court judge from 1964 to 1966, and 
a superior court judge from 1966 until October 1970, when President 
Nixon named him to the Federal bench. Judge Fisher gave up the title of 
chief judge of the Federal courts in New Jersey in September 1987 after 
8\1/2\ years of service, the longest tenure of any chief judge in the 
district. The next day, he returned on a voluntary senior status, 
handling a caseload comparable to an active judge until several weeks 
before his death. Among many other accomplishments, he was the moving 
force behind the construction of New Jersey's three Federal 
courthouses, including the Federal courthouse in Trenton named for him 
in 1995.
  Mr. Speaker, it is an honor for me to pay tribute to the life of 
Judge Clarkson S. Fisher. For his wife, Mae Hoffman Fisher, four sons, 
other family members, and his many, many friends, I hope the numerous 
expressions of praise and remembrance will be some consolation in their 
time of loss.

                          ____________________