[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 59 (Wednesday, April 28, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E793]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E793]]
                 FRANK J. PASQUERILLA: A GIANT OF A MAN

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BUD SHUSTER

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 28, 1999

  Mr. SHUSTER. Mr. Speaker, on April 21, 1999, Frank Pasquerilla, the 
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Crown American, a Fortune 500 
company, entered life eternal.
  Frank Pasquerilla was a giant of a man. His intellect and energy was 
exceeded only by the size of his heart. When he and his wonderful wife, 
Sylvia, joined my wife and me for the Kennedy Center Gala last December 
honoring America's most outstanding artists, at the conclusion of the 
evening as they were entering their hotel, he paused and said to me: 
``Don't believe the rumors. I'm not retiring.'' And then with a grin, 
he added, ``I'm never going to retire!'' As usual, he was true to his 
word. Up until the very day of his sudden passing he was working, 
caring and building: For his family, his company and his community. 
Leonardo DiVinci said ``To understand is to construct.'' Frank 
understood that in the best and broadest sense of the word. He was a 
builder. But his 29 malls, 30 shopping centers and 21 hotels were only 
the physical structures that gave him the opportunity to build better 
lives for his family, his associates and his community. When his mall 
in Altoona burned to the ground, as we slogged through the debris I ask 
him, ``What are you going to do, Frank?'' and without hesitation, he 
replied, ``Start over and rebuild.'' And, of course, he did just that. 
He was the driving force behind pushing for a new West End Bypass for 
Johnstown, not because it benefited him, but because it was good for 
the community. We were to have dinner to discuss a project important to 
Pennsylvania on the very night he died. His son, Mark, called from his 
hospital room to express his Dad's apology for not being able to 
attend, and I told him to assure his Dad that we would do everything in 
our power to help make his latest dream come true.
  If anyone dare suggest that Frank Pasquerilla is no longer with us, 
they simply didn't know this giant of a man. His extensive and 
extraordinary philanthropies have made life better for thousands of 
people, young and old, and will continue to do so far into the next 
millennium. For as long as the Allegheny mountains turn green in 
Spring, for as long as our rivers and streams run down to the sea, or 
the stars shine above and our fields flower under, this giant of a man 
will live in us and his dear family through his good works which have 
touched so many lives, and will live in our hearts, forever moved by 
the afterglow of his example of what all our lives should be.

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