[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 112 (Wednesday, July 9, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6500-S6501]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       REMEMBERING ROBERT LEENEY

 Mr. LIEBERMAN. Madam President, New Haven has lost a friend, a 
neighbor, and a teacher, with the passing of Robert Leeney, the 
longtime editor of the New Haven Register. In his career at the 
Register, Bob informed, educated, and entertained us in many roles, 
including as an editorial writer, reporter, book editor, Broadway 
columnist, and theatre critic.
  Bob's weekly column in the paper, the ``Editor's Note''--which he 
remarkably wrote from April 6, 1974 to April 7, 2007, without missing 
even a single week--was a must-read column that brightened up our 
Saturday mornings. Evident in his writing was his love of New Haven, 
often reminding us what we may have missed, and through him it is true 
to say that our love of New Haven increased.
  In his columns, Bob rarely strayed from local nonpolitical topics, 
but when he did it was often to remind us about the greatness of our 
country, the value of service, or to urge politicians to look beyond 
partisan politics. And Bob always did this with a grace and delivery 
that ensured his words made their impact.
  His writing often brought to life, and made us yearn for, an earlier 
age. In his last July 4th column, published on June 30, 2007, for 
instance, Bob wrote about the celebrations in the 1920s. It was a time, 
he wrote, when: ``In every family, the youngsters were chipping in 
long-saved nickels and dimes to build a fireworks fund for the front 
porch displays that illuminated streets and lawns, beaches and boat 
docks in salute to American independence and the personal freedom it 
signified for all the world.''
  Just as Bob's professional life was marked by his scholarship and 
talented writing and reporting, his personal life, too, was marked by 
his dedication to New Haven and to his being the consummate gentleman. 
His service to our community did not end with his journalism, and in 
his spare time he served our community in many roles. Indeed, his life 
was twinned with that of New Haven, especially in its artistic and 
religious life.
  To give just a few examples of his extensive public service, Bob 
served as vice president of the New Haven Arts Council and on the city 
committee that worked to reopen the Shubert. Once the theatre was 
reopened, he served on its board.
  His interests and service was not limited to the arts. Bob served as 
a director of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce and was a 
member of the State Education Commission's Connecticut Education 
Council. He also sat on the committee tasked with establishing a 
Holocaust memorial, as well as on other committees.
  Bob was a religious man, and in recognition for his service to the 
Catholic Church, Pope John Paul II appointed him a Knight of St. 
Gregory. Bob also received numerous other awards, including Connecticut 
Anti-Defamation League's First Amendment Freedoms Award--of which he 
was the first ever recipient.
  It can be said about Bob that he left our society better off for the 
wisdom

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and humanity he taught us both in his writings, in his personal life of 
honor, and in his public service.
  Bob's wife Anne passed away in 1990, and I remember him writing that 
after she died he went to bed and ``touched the pillow where the 
moonlight and the memory fused and whispered, `Much ado about nothing, 
old girl'--and went to sleep.'' Hadassah and I extend our condolences 
to his family, the Register, and the entire community. We will miss 
you, Bob.

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