[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 14 (Wednesday, February 8, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E93]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM ``BILL'' KORR

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 8, 2006

  Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, February 7th was a very special day for 
a fine American who had been very special to me and my family. It is 
the 90th birthday of William ``Bill'' Korr, across-the-street neighbor 
and family friend throughout my childhood.
  Bill was born in 1916 in Chicago. His parents, Ben and Ida Korofsky, 
were immigrants from Russia who arrived in the U.S. via Ellis Island 
near the turn of the century.
  When the stock market collapsed in 1929, knocking his parents out of 
the real estate business they had built, Bill at age 16 essentially ran 
a family grocery business on the west side of the city. He graduated 
from Englewood High School in 1934. He also attended the University of 
Chicago for 2 years but was forced to leave for financial 
considerations due to an illness in his immediate family.
  Because of health issues he was not accepted into the Armed Forces 
during the WWII era.
  In 1948 Bill cofounded National Hobbymodel Distributors, a wholesale 
operation servicing independent retail hobby shops nationwide. Most 
importantly, he was one of the six original founders of the Hobby 
Industry of America, HIA, known today as the Craft & Hobby Association, 
CHA, an organization that caters to a multi-billion dollar industry 
including craft, hobby, floral and scrap-booking products among its mix 
and whose leadership includes top executives from numerous prestigious 
and publicly traded companies.
  From 1961 to present, Bill was involved as the principle of the 
William Korr Sales Company, a manufacturer's representative firm 
specializing in the floral, craft and hobby industries that today has 
grown to an operation which has three regional offices and accounts for 
over $15,000,000 in annual sales. Bill continues to go into the office 
4 days a week.
  Bill has three sons, Jerold, 60--Sheila, Elliott, 56--Janet, and 
Bruce, 52--Kimberely. He was married to Florence Tirengel Korr for 54 
years before her passing in 1997. He has four granddaughters, Gail, 
Karen, Linda, & Alexandria, and just recently became a great 
grandfather when Gail gave birth to Sarah Nicole Atlas on December 5, 
2005.
  Bill has always been active in his synagogue and community and served 
as a scout master, long-term board member, and contributor of both 
funds and wisdom.
  He remarried at the ripe old age of 87. His new bride is Sally Wisper 
Korr.
  Golden words of wisdom: ``The DJIA will never go above 1,000,'' ``My 
advice is worth what you're willing to pay for it,'' ``Nixon's the 
one.''
  I remember Bill as a kind and gentle man, always nice to all the kids 
on the block. He lived directly across the street from me on Jarvis 
Avenue in the unpretentiously middleclass Chicago neighborhood of 
Rogers Park. It was a tight-knit block on which everybody knew 
everybody and the families took care of each other. The man I called 
``Uncle'' Bill is a great example of a hardworking, honorable and 
honest American, loved by his family and community, and I wish him a 
very happy birthday.

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