[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 176 (Tuesday, December 9, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2485]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


A TRIBUTE TO ROBERT AND KAY SCHATTNER AND THE JEWISH PRIMARY DAY SCHOOL

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                         HON. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, December 8, 2003

  Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call the attention of 
the House of Representatives to the upcoming dedication of the new home 
in Washington, D.C. of the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's 
Capital (JPDS-NC) and to pay tribute to the contributions of Dr. Robert 
and Kay Schattner in enabling JPDS-NC to dedicate their new home.
  On Sunday, December 21 JPDS-NC community will dedicate their new 
building at 6045 16th St., NW, Washington, DC. After a three year 
hiatus JPDS-NC has returned to Washington, DC. This makes JPDS-NC the 
only Jewish Day school in our Nation's Capital. JPDS-NC is an 
independent, pluralistic, co-educational Jewish day school for students 
in pre-kindergarten through sixth grade.
  It is particularly fitting that this Jewish day school is moving to 
this address because this same building was constructed to be the home 
of the Hebrew Academy from 1951-1976. JPDS-NC will add greatly to the 
cultural richness and diversity of the Nation's Capital.
  It is particularly pleasing to recognize and pay tribute to my 
constituents Robert and Kay Schattner's for helping make this new 
building possible. Their $2 million contribution to this school 
building facilitated JPDS-NC moving back into the District. When this 
building is dedicated later this month it will be named the Kay and 
Robert Schattner Center.
  This generous contribution is not the first major charitable gift of 
the Schattners. Only last year the University of Pennsylvania School of 
Dental Medicine dedicated the Robert Schattner Center in Philadelphia.
  The Schattner family has deep roots in the Metropolitan Washington 
area. Kay Schattner grew up in Washington, DC and once hosted a popular 
local radio program named ``Kay's Korner.'' Her work earned her the 
title of National Radio Star of the Year in 1959. She also worked for 
the Washington Daily News as a columnist.
  Robert Schattner has had a distinguished career as a dentist, 
entrepreneur, and inventor. He developed the widely used throat spray, 
Chloraseptic as well as other medical products. He currently serves as 
president of Sporicidin International, a company which develops 
medical, dental and household antimicrobial products.
  Mr. Speaker, Kay and Robert Schatttner are the type of civic minded 
couple that has made this country great. It is my honor to rise and pay 
tribute to their contribution which will allow a great educational 
institution to thrive in our Nation's Capital.
  Mr. Speaker, I am submitting for the Record an article published on 
9/11/03 in the Washington Jewish Week which announced the Schattner 
gift and the move of the JPDS-NC.

                   [From the Washington Jewish Week]

  JPDS Gets $2 Million Gift Donation, Is Bethesda Couple's Largest to 
                              Jewish Cause

                            (By Teddy Kider)

       Robert and Kay Schattner have had quite a year. Twenty 
     minutes after students and officials of the Jewish Primary 
     Day School of the Nation's Capital (JPDS-NC) raised the flag 
     and hung mezuzot at their new home in the District last week, 
     the Bethesda couple signed on to contribute $2 million to the 
     facility, naming it the Kay and Robert Schattner Center.
       The facility, the former Owl School on 16th Street N.W. in 
     the District, provided JPDS-NC with its first permanent home 
     in the District since the school became independent of Adas 
     Israel Congregation in 1999.
       ``What interested us most is the school accommodates all 
     sectors of Judaic affiliations and backgrounds,'' said Robert 
     Schattner. ``You can be chasidic or Reform, and the school 
     will take you and accommodate you.''
       The Schattners' gift to JPDS-NC comes less than one year 
     after the Nov. 1 dedication of the Robert Schattner Center at 
     the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
       The Schattners' contribution, the largest in the history of 
     Penn's dental school, provided the campus with a $22 million, 
     70,000-square-foot building that connected two previously 
     built structures and created the largest dental school 
     facility in the United States. Robert Schattner is an alumnus 
     of the dental school.
       With the finishing touches still being completed in 
     Philadelphia, the Schattners were reluctant to take on 
     another project.
       ``We just have too many involvements,'' said Robert 
     Schattner.
       Last spring, the Schattners were approached by Lisa Silver, 
     a friend who has three children at JPDS-NC and knew that the 
     couple might want to contribute to a Jewish day school. 
     Silver was initially turned down, but was persistent in 
     showing the Schattners what JPDS-NC had to offer the 
     community.
       ``I say this as a good thing: she's a great saleswoman,'' 
     quipped Robert Schattner.
       Eventually, the Schattners decided that providing funds for 
     the 16th Street campus let them support a worthy cause while 
     maintaining a minimal involvement with the already-completed 
     building.
       The $2 million gift fulfilled more than half of the JPDS-NC 
     Coming Home Campaign's goal of $3.8 million, and will be used 
     to support new programs like a prekindergarten and an 
     Intergenerational Jewish Arts Program. A dedication ceremony 
     will be held in November.
       ``We are so grateful to Kay and Robert Schattner for 
     stepping forward with their $2 million lead gift to launch 
     our Coming Home Campaign,'' said former president and chair 
     of the campaign Margaret Hahn Stern. ``The first step is 
     always the hardest, and we hope that many others will now be 
     inspired to join the Schattners at whatever level they can 
     afford. . . . Widespread participation in this campaign will 
     firmly position our premiere Jewish day school in the 
     nation's capital.''
       The Schattners may have no previous ties to JPDS-NC, but 
     they are deeply rooted in the Washington community.
       Kay Schattner, who grew up in Washington, D.C., has a 
     background in the media, having worked on a one-hour daily 
     radio broadcast called ``Kay's Korner''from 1953 to 1961. The 
     show earned her the title of National Radio Star of the Year 
     in 1959.
       She also worked for the Washington Daily News, writing the 
     ``Gourmet Guide'' dining supplement from 1960 to 1969 and 
     producing columns for the paper from 1960-1970.
       A member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and 
     of American Women in Radio & Television, Kay Schattner also 
     did interviews for Curtis Circulations, which enabled her to 
     be the self-proclaimed ``only person to interview Robert 
     Kennedy and Jimmy Hoffa in the same afternoon.''
       Robert Schattner grew up in Bronx, N.Y., and earned a 
     bachelor's degree in chemistry from the City University of 
     New York before going to Penn's dentistry school.
       While practicing dentistry in Queens, N.Y., he developed 
     Chloraseptic, a throat spray. After 10 years in private 
     practice, Schattner created The Chloraseptic Company and 
     moved to the District, where he sold the revolutionary 
     product to The Norwich Pharmacal Company.
       Robert Schattner now serves as president of Sporicidin 
     International, which develops medical, dental and household 
     antimicrobial products, and he's been involved in several 
     attempts to purchase sports teams in the area or move teams 
     to the area.
       Recently, Schattner introduced Masticide, a new product 
     that treats mastitis, or the inflammation of a cow's utter, 
     and is supposed to help farmers who annually lose about $3 
     billion due to mastitis in their herds.
       While Robert Schattner has been honored for his work 
     outside of the office by the Association for Physical and 
     Mental Rehabilitation, the President's Committee for Physical 
     and Mental Rehabilitation and the Columbia Lighthouse for the 
     Blind, his wife has worked with numerous organizations to 
     better the community, including heart, cancer and multiple 
     sclerosis associations.

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