[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 102 (Wednesday, July 21, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1457]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO DR. ARTHUR NAPARSTEK

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. MARCY KAPTUR

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 21, 2004

  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight in special tribute to a 
beloved citizen of Ohio, Dr. Arthur Naparstek, a brilliant scholar, 
humanitarian, and community-builder. Dr. Naparstek dedicated his life 
to raising a beautiful family, teaching the leaders of this new 
generation, strengthening the communities in which he lived along with 
communities across our country and world, and giving voice to the most 
needy people in neighborhoods across our nation. To his beloved wife 
Belleruth, an amazing woman, to his precious children--Keila, Aaron, 
and Abe--our state and people express very deepest sympathy. We owe Art 
a lasting debt of gratitude for the exceptional manner in which he 
lived his life.
  I first met Art and Belleruth during the 1970's when Dr. Naparstek 
worked with Msgr. Geno Baroni as the top policy analyst for the 
National Center for Urban Ethnic Affairs in Washington, D.C. This 
organization provided hope as well as technical assistance and analysis 
across urban America in some of the most forgotten, ethnically and 
racially diverse places in our nation. Through the Center, Dr. 
Naparstek embraced the nation during the tumultuous modern Civil Rights 
era and helped move her forward. Dr. Naparstek began his professional 
career in Gary, Indiana working as an advisor to Mayor Richard Hatcher, 
the first African American mayor of that city. Art was always looking 
for ways to understand the dynamic of urban America, and to build 
bridges between people of varying heritage. During the Civil Rights 
era, I think it is fair to say, Dr. Naparstek became one of the leading 
intellects that probed the nature of urban unrest, what to do about it, 
and how to rebuild America's cities, neighborhood by neighborhood. 
During the Administration of President Jimmy Carter, it was Dr. 
Naparstek who wrote the authorizing legislation for the National 
Commission on Neighborhoods, creating a national effort to document, 
understand, and share what was being accomplished across our nation to 
build interracial and interethnic understanding and to revitalize the 
back streets of our nation. Dr. Naparstek looked at poverty head on. He 
never flinched. His probing mind and gregarious nature lent an 
optimistic tone to every encounter. His pathbreaking work helped 
spearhead national legislation that followed in so many critical areas 
of American life--addressing the redlining of poor communities through 
passage of the Community Reinvestment Act, the Home Mortgage Disclosure 
Act, the National Commission on Neighborhoods, and even welfare reform 
and culturally sensitive treatment for the mentally ill and the 
forgotten. His scope was amazing.
  As professor and later Dean of the Case Western Reserve University 
School of Applied Social Sciences, he took his national legacy from 
works such as People, Building Neighborhoods and put it to work 
teaching a diverse student body. During the last quarter of his life, 
his efforts were applied to the improvement of Cleveland's needy 
communities, as he had done in so many other locations. During the 
1990's, he served as director for the Cleveland Foundation's Commission 
on Poverty. He always applied knowledge to better the human condition. 
His rare dedication to the underprivileged became a lifelong mission. 
Born in New York City, the son of Polish immigrants, his career spanned 
the nation. He graduated with a master's degree in social work from New 
York University and a doctorate from Brandeis University Florence 
Heller School of Advanced Studies in social Welfare Administration.
  One of the recent conversations I held with Art involved how to begin 
to build toward peace in the war ravaged Israeli-Palestinian situation. 
He was already deeply engaged in community development planning in that 
part of the world. I truly regret that we will not have his firm hand 
guiding us as we carry on his great vision for a better life for all 
people. He truly appreciated the valued variants of a common humanity. 
May his family find peace in the knowledge we are all better for his 
generous life, for his probing mind, and for his good heart. May he 
rest in peace. I might add, though, he would not expect us to rest at 
all. So, let us carry his good works forward. Shalom.

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