[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 111 (Thursday, September 5, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1518-E1519]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


            A TRIBUTE TO MARTIN MATICH ON HIS 75TH BIRTHDAY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JERRY LEWIS

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 5, 2002

  Mr. LEWIS of California. Mr. Speaker, I would like today to pay 
tribute to Martin Matich, a very good friend and a man who has earned a 
reputation throughout California as a builder of flawless public works 
and community leader. Mr. Matich reaches his 75th year this month.
  The Matich Corp., which Martin Matich ran for 40 years until his 
retirement as chairman in 1992, is one of Southern California's largest 
heavy construction companies. It builds freeways, bridges, runways, 
flood-control channels and dams. The San Bernardino County company, 
founded by Mathich's father John, has built more than 1,000 miles of 
roads and freeways in California, Nevada and Arizona, and constructed 
runways and aprons at 40 military and civilian airfields.
  Under the leadership of Martin Matich, the company became known for 
its top-quality work and innovation. The Matich Corp. developed 
continuous-slip forms that allowed 90-foot-deep intercontinental 
ballistic missile silos to be built at Vandenberg Air Force Base in one 
step, making them stronger and faster to finish. It also pioneered 
continuous-pour concrete paving machinery, which allows long stretches 
of highways to be built without elaborate forms.
  The company, which is now run by Matich's son, Steven, has completed 
more than $1 billion in projects in its 85-year history. Six members of 
the family's third generation are still in company management. It's 
latest endeavor is to repave and improve hundreds of miles of highways 
in Mexico, which will help that country meet the challenges of trade 
with the United States.
  Martin Matich has been so involved in local and regional community 
affairs that the local press often calls him the most influential non-
elected person in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties, an area known 
as the Inland Empire of Southern California. His advice and counsel is 
sought by presidents, senators, House members and most local 
officials--;and he provides it, without regard to party affiliation. He 
knows the mood of Inland Empire residents, and he is dedicated to 
putting their interests first.

[[Page E1519]]

  He has served in a wide variety of community positions, including 
mayor and City Council member of Colton, a member of the California 
State Water Commission, member and former president of the National 
Orange Show board of directors, chairman of the National Orange Show 
Foundation and St. Bernardine Hospital Foundation. He was president of 
the Inland Empire Council of the Boy Scouts of America and chairman of 
the Water Resources Institute at California State University, San 
Bernardino. He was appointed to the statewide California Advisory 
Council on Economic Development and the Commission of California's 
advisory council.
  Over the years, Martin Matich has been honored with many awards, 
including the Engineering Honor Award by his alma mater, the University 
of Notre Dame, and Citizen of the Year by both the San Bernardino Board 
of Realtors and the Boy Scouts of America.
  Mr. Speaker, it would be hard to imagine someone who is more 
exemplary of the designation community leader than Martin Matich. His 
75 years in the Inland Empire have made his hometown community--;and 
mine--;a better place to live and work. Please join me in 
congratulating him on his 75th birthday, and wishing him and his wife 
Evelyn the best in the years to come.

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