[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 31 (Monday, February 23, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H1639]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           SUE AND CHUCK COBB

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, I would like to recognize the life and 
the work of Ambassadors Sue and Chuck Cobb for what they have achieved 
in the life that they have made together. The Cobbs have set a new 
standard for the great American family as leaders in business, as 
public servants and as loving parents.
  Ambassador Chuck Cobb is an alumnus of Stanford Business School. The 
greatest prize that he took from Stanford was not the MBA that he 
earned there; it was Sue, his wonderful and future wife. Ambassador 
Chuck Cobb's professional life is as successful as it has been 
diversified. As a businessman, he has served on the borders of nine 
publicly traded companies as well as numerous private ones. More than 
30 master plan communities and even entire towns have been developed 
under Chuck's leadership. As a public servant, he rose through the 
ranks of the Department of Commerce where he served as Undersecretary 
and then as assistant Secretary for President Ronald Reagan. He saw the 
fruition of his labor with his appointment to the position of 
Ambassador to Iceland for President George H.W. Bush. The people of 
Iceland graciously rewarded his work as an ambassador with their 
highest honor, the Falcon Grand Cross Star.
  Ambassador Sue Cobb's journey from Stanford to the position of 
ambassador was no less exciting. While leading several nonprofits and 
law firms, she attempted to be the first woman from the United States 
to climb Mt. Everest, and later wrote the book ``The Edge of Everest: A 
Woman Challenges the Mountain.'' Following her service as chairman of 
the Federal Reserve of Miami, Sue Cobb was appointed as U.S. Ambassador 
to Jamaica where she served to improve health care, law enforcement and 
environmental management practices. Sue's work as ambassador was so 
acknowledged as excellent that our Nation's finest diplomats are 
honored with the Sue M. Cobb Exemplary Diplomatic Service Award. During 
her tenure in Jamaica, Ambassador Sue Cobb coordinated the relief 
efforts to help Jamaica's people after it was ravaged by Hurricane 
Ivan.
  Ambassador Chuck was the cochairman of the committee that secured $9 
billion in Federal funds to rebuild my community, South Florida, after 
Hurricane Andrew.
  In addition to their exemplary work in both government and private 
enterprise, Chuck and Sue have made a home together and have filled it 
with love for more than five decades. Mr. Speaker, on February 28, they 
will celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. They have raised two 
sons, who are distinguished and remarkable people. Christian is an 
architect with an MBA from Harvard, and Tobin is an investment banker 
who earned his MBA from NYU. They have blessed the Cobb family with 
seven beautiful grandchildren.
  It is obvious that there is much that we can learn from the lives of 
the Ambassadors Cobb, but if we could glean a single lesson from the 
half century that they have spent together, Mr. Speaker, it would be 
how unbelievably far a man and a woman can go when the faith they have 
in each other is as unwavering as it is so clearly shown in Ambassadors 
Sue and Chuck Cobb.

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