[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 158 (Thursday, November 15, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2103]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              TRIBUTE TO ROBERT CORNEL NELSON OF ILLINOIS

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                           HON. BOBBY L. RUSH

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, November 15, 2001

  Mr. RUSH. Mr. Speaker, it was with great sadness that I learned last 
night of the death of one of the giants of the labor movement in 
Illinois--Robert Cornel Nelson. Bob died in his sleep on November 7, 
2001, just two days shy of his 52nd birthday. He was laid to rest today 
in Glenwood, Illinois.
  At the time of his death, Bob Nelson was national vice president of 
the American Federation of Government Employees' (AFGE) seventh 
district, which encompasses Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin, and was 
recently elected to the position of vice president of the Illinois 
State AFL-CIO.
  Bob began his union career as a member of AFGE's local 375 at the 
Railroad Retirement Board, and throughout the years, he held a number 
of union offices, including second vice president, first vice 
president, and ultimately, president.
  From 1974 to 1980, Bob also served as president of the Chicago Area 
Council of AFGE locals and in 1974 was elected president of the AFGE 
Railroad Retirement Board Council--a position which he held until he 
was elected to the seventh district national vice president's position 
in October 1986, and was reelected to that position five times.
  As national vice president of the seventh district, Bob sat on AFGE's 
national executive board and chaired both the legislative and legal 
rights committees. Every two years, Bob held a legislative breakfast 
here in Washington, where the AFGE members from his region would come 
to Congress to press their legislative agenda. But, Bob was active and 
engaged in the legislative process 365 days of every year.
  This past summer, I reconstituted the First Congressional District's 
Labor Task Force and convened a meeting on a very warm day in Chicago. 
Bob was one of the first union representatives to confirm his 
attendance and he was there, struggling to walk with a leg brace and a 
walker that was the result of earlier surgery on his leg. He was 
looking forward, he said, to getting out of the brace and walker, to be 
able to get on with his union's business and the business of the larger 
labor family at his previous speed. Bob's previous speed often rivaled 
the speed of light, and even with the leg brace, we struggled to keep 
up with his pace.
  Mr. Speaker, I will greatly miss Bob's dedication, unfailing humor 
and support. My prayers and heartfelt condolences go out to his wife, 
Judy, and his brother, Ron, and his children: Robert, Jr.; Aaron; 
Daron; Eric; Cornel; Erica; and Shannon.
  Chicago, and the Nation, have lost a labor giant.

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