[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 37 (Tuesday, April 5, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Page S3195]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              FRANK PERDUE

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I want to acknowledge the passing of a 
great Marylander, Frank Perdue, Sr., who helped build the poultry 
industry on the Eastern Shore, a leading entrepreneur, a 
philanthropist. He passed away of Parkinson's disease a few days ago.
  Born in Parsonburg, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Frank Perdue 
grew up working in his family's egg business--collecting and cleaning 
eggs from childhood. But Frank Perdue was determined to take the family 
business to another level--and it was his tremendous capacity for hard 
work that did just that. When Perdue said, ``It takes a tough man to 
make a tender chicken,'' America listened, and Frank Perdue became both 
a savvy businessman and a cultural icon. Today Perdue Farms employs 
more than 20,000 people across America and has annual sales of about $3 
billion.
  I am proud to work have worked with Frank Perdue--and now with his 
son Jim Perdue--to fight for fair trade policies that enable Maryland 
chicken producers to export around the world.
  As Frank Perdue's business soared, he worked to bring Maryland with 
him. He became a great benefactor to Salisbury University, establishing 
the Perdue School of Business with a generous gift. Once a college 
baseball player and always a baseball fan, Frank Perdue brought the 
Delmarva Shorebirds to Salisbury in 1996, and then built the team and 
the Eastern Shore community a stadium. It is for both his business 
sense and his philanthropic heart that I salute him today.
  Frank Perdue and I came from different ends of the political 
spectrum. Yet we both believed that the best social program is a job--
and that we must give help to those who practice self-help. We joked 
that we should do an ad for a group we both support--we would say--
we're two tough birds from the right wing and the left wing--but we 
both support this tender cause.
  Today as we grieve the loss of one of Maryland's finest, Frank 
Perdue, we send our thoughts and prayers to his family and his many 
friends and colleagues.

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