[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 12 (Thursday, February 10, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S642-S643]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO LESTER S. JAYSON

 Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a 
dedicated public servant and friend of the Congress for many years, 
Lester S. Jayson, former director of the Congressional Research 
Service, who died on December 30, 1999, in Orlando, Florida.
  Mr. Jayson joined the staff of what was then the Legislative 
Reference Service in October 1960 as Senior Specialist in American 
Public Law and Chief of the American Law Division. He was promoted to 
Deputy Director of the Service in May 1962, and served as Director from 
February 1966 through September 1975.
  Mr. Jayson was influential in helping to develop the modern 
Congressional Research Service during his tenure as director of CRS 
between 1971 and 1975, the years in which the Service began 
implementation of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970. This Act 
changed the name of the Service and fundamentally enhanced its role by 
emphasizing the provision of policy analysis in all services to Members 
and committees of the Congress. The staff of the Service more than 
doubled during this time, and Mr. Jayson helped guide CRS to fulfill 
its congressional mandate and continue the tradition of responding to 
congressional requests for comprehensive and reliable information, 
research, and analysis to the Congress at all stages of the legislative 
process.
  A graduate of New York City College in 1936 and Harvard Law School in 
1939, Mr. Jayson was admitted to the bar of the State of New York and 
practiced law in New York City until 1942, when he was appointed 
Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General to handle trial and 
appellate proceedings in civil cases in the New York field office of 
the Department of Justice. In 1950, he joined the Appellate Section of 
the Civil Division of the Justice Department, and in 1957, he became 
Assistant Chief of the Torts Section, Civil Division, and then was 
promoted to Chief of that division. Mr. Jayson was also a member of the 
bar of the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Claims, the U.S. Court 
of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and various other 
Federal courts. He served as Chairman

[[Page S643]]

and Vice Chairman of the Federal Tort Claims Committee of the Federal 
Bar Association.
  His 1,200-page book, Federal Tort Claims: Administrative and Judicial 
Remedies, was considered by many to be the preeminent volume on federal 
tort law. He wrote the volume as an extracurricular activity in 1964 
and continued to update it regularly until several years ago.
  On behalf of the Members of Congress who knew and worked with Mr. 
Jayson, I would like to thank his family for sharing him with us during 
the years he served the Congress and hope they are comforted by his 
legacy. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Evelyn, his 
daughters Jill and Diane, and his four grandchildren.

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