[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 95 (Tuesday, June 23, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H7110]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 MOMENT OF SILENCE IN MEMORY OF FORMER REPRESENTATIVE PAUL A. FINO OF 
                                NEW YORK

  (Mr. ENGEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. ENGEL. Mr. Speaker, it is with sadness that I announce the death 
of my predecessor once removed, Congressman Paul A. Fino of New York.
  When I was growing up, you think of certain elected officials as 
larger than life. Paul Fino was certainly larger than life. He served 
eight terms here in the House, a State senator, served on the State 
Supreme Court, was chairman of the Bronx County Republican Party for 
many years, and one of the people who really represented New York.
  He lived the American Dream. His father was a subway car mechanic. He 
leaves his wife, Esther, of 70 years, and his children, Lucille and 
Paul.
  I remember growing up, he had these big signs that said Social 
Security at 60 and a national lottery. These were the things that he 
really believed in.
  He lived to be 95, someone that we all respect and really remember 
and revere.
  I yield to the gentleman from New York.
  Mr. KING of New York. Mr. Speaker, I join with Congressman Engel in 
mourning the passing of Paul Fino, who among other things, was I 
believe the last elected Republican congressman from the Bronx. He was 
an outstanding Congressman. He was a member of the New York State 
Supreme Court. In his retirement years he moved to Nassau County, and 
he never lost his love and his interest for Congress. In fact, every 
year he would call me to remind me to send him a program of the 
congressional baseball game. He loved this institution; he loved the 
Congress. He was a great man. And for those of us old enough to 
remember the 1961 mayor's race, he was the middleman on the most 
famous, ethnically balanced race in the history of New York of 
Lefkowitz, Fino, and Gilhooley. They touched all of the ethnic bases at 
that time. He was unsuccessful in that race, but he was successful in 
all his others.
  With Mr. Engel, I mourn his passing.
  Mr. ENGEL. I would ask for a moment of silence in honor of 
Congressman Paul A. Fino.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Members will rise for a moment of silence.

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