[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 41 (Tuesday, March 16, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S2781]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO PHIL LERMAN

 Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, I rise today to offer a tribute 
to my friend, Phil Lerman, who recently passed away. Throughout his 
lifetime, Phil was a steadfast advocate for civil rights. Perhaps most 
impressive, is the number of different avenues Phil marched down to 
promote the ideals of equal justice. As a former union representative, 
state official, businessman, founder and director of the employment and 
training institute at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Phil 
helped to promote racial and social justice throughout the state of 
Wisconsin.
  Phil said that he learned his ``strategizing and speechifying,'' as 
he called it, for civil rights from his father. In a 1997 interview, 
Phil stated ``I learned to respect people as people. Color meant 
nothing.'' Perhaps it was this respect that caused Phil to devote time 
to preforming countless acts of community service, such as donating 
free tires to the vehicles that carried so many civil rights marchers.
  Phil was an inspiration to the entire state. I am sure those in the 
greater Milwaukee area will miss his guidance and helpful advice. 
However, I am proud to remember, and of course repeat, his well-worn 
statement, ``a house doesn't care who lives there.'' I can only hope 
that we will someday translate this ideal into reality.

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