[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 155 (Friday, December 15, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2216]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE DEATH OF MICHAEL P. MORTARA

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES A. LEACH

                                of iowa

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 15, 2000

  Mr. LEACH. Mr. Speaker, I wish to note the passing of an individual 
of considerable stature in the history of this nation's financial 
system, Michael P. Mortara. Mr. Mortara, who was the victim of an 
aneurysm last month, was instrumental in the creation of mortgage-
backed securities, a market now valued at over $2 trillion. By devising 
a means for banks to package and sell mortgage loans to the broader 
capital markets, he helped enlarge the pool of credit available to 
millions of middle and low income American families, making it possible 
for them to purchase their first homes at affordable mortgage rates. 
Asset securitization, as the technique that Mr. Mortara helped pioneer 
is called, is the primary tool Ginnie Mae, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac 
have used the carry out their missions--the establishment and 
maintenance of a stable and fluid nationwide secondary mortgage market 
essential to widespread, affordable housing finance. This technique was 
also adapted with success by the Resolution Trust Company, saving 
American taxpayers millions of dollars, and it has served as a model 
for housing finance markets around the world.
  In addition to his contribution to our country's economic well-being, 
Mr. Mortara was dedicated to the community in which he lived, the 
community in which he worked, as well as to his family--his wife 
Virginia and his two sons, Michael and Matthew. At his death, Mr. 
Mortara was a senior member of the Wall Street firm Goldman Sachs. 
There and wherever he came into contact with them, he mentored and 
guided hundreds of young men and women throughout their careers. He 
served on many educational boards, including those of Georgetown 
University, The Taft School, Rumsey Hall School, and the Connecticut 
Junior Republic. Mr. Mortara was the embodiment of a free-enterprise 
minded American citizen--a proponent of free markets, education, and 
family values.
  Mr. Speaker, what Mr. Mortara's life symbolizes is the mark an 
individual can make in the private sector that has positive 
ramifications for society as a whole. It is innovations in finance that 
have helped curb inflation and in the case of the secondary housing 
securities market made access to home ownership available to millions 
who would otherwise be precluded from participation in the American 
dream.
  Mr. Mortara will be much missed by this family and colleagues and so 
many who never knew him but benefited from the innovations in finance 
that he pioneered.

                          ____________________