[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 45 (Friday, April 2, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E508-E509]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DOYLE AND RAYE ROGERS

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARION BERRY

                              of arkansas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 1, 2004

  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, today more than ever, we must recognize 
commitments made by Americans who realize the best way to grow an 
economy is through continued investment infrastructure. I rise today to 
pay tribute to a great business and civic leader and a great Arkansan; 
I am honored to recognize Doyle Rogers in the Congress.
  In a day and age when the presiding belief is in order to grow up and 
succeed you must escape Rural America, Doyle Rogers and his family 
lived in Batesville, Arkansas for more than 50 years, proving success 
comes with hard work, not a change of zip code.
  His commitment to local business development is unparalleled. Mr. 
Rogers has started many businesses in Batesville--including the one 
which bares his name, the Doyle Rogers Company, a commercial real 
estate development firm. It was with that company in 1982 he developed 
and opened the Excelsior Hotel, now the Peabody Hotel, and the 
adjoining Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.
  The opening of the Peabody--one of the finest hotels in the country--
would suffice as anyone's crowning achievement, but Mr. Rogers did so 
much more. He bought Metropolitan National Bank, headquartered in 
Little Rock, in 1983. Today, it is Central Arkansas' largest 
independently-owned bank employing more than 350 people. In 1985, he 
developed the 25-story Rogers Building, now the Stephens Building, in 
downtown Little Rock.
  He holds honorary doctorates from Lyon College in Batesville and 
Philander Smith College in Little Rock. He is a former member of the 
Board of Trustees of Hendrix College and has served on the Advisory 
Board of the School of Business at the University of Arkansas. He has 
served as the President of the Batesville Chamber of Commerce.
  In 2001, he was named Business and Professional Person of the Year by 
the Rotary Club in Little Rock and was presented the William F. Rector 
Memorial Award by Fifty For

[[Page E509]]

the Future, a group of business and professional leaders in Greater 
Little Rock.
  Doyle Rogers and his wife Josephine Raye Rogers have proved like-
minded people tend to attract each other. In 2001, the White River 
Medical Center in Batesville received a unique Valentine's Day gift 
when Doyle Rogers and his wife Raye announced a gift of $1 million to 
the hospital. It is the largest gift in the hospital's 25-year history. 
The gift was used as seed money for the Josephine Raye Rogers Center 
for Women and Imaging.
  Raye, as she's known to her friends, complements Doyle well, proving 
her commitment to the community is as strong as her love for her 
husband. The Rogers' are truly a perfect match--and a shining example 
of the compassion our country occasionally lacks.
  Mr. Rogers knows the people of Rural America will move this country 
ahead. He is a great business man, an impassioned community leader and 
a devoted family man. On behalf of the Congress, I extend a deep sense 
of appreciation for all he did to drive Arkansas and this nation 
forward.

                          ____________________