[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 131 (Wednesday, September 16, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2282]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               RECOGNIZING THE LIFE OF WILLIAM R. DeCOTA

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN L. MICA

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 16, 2009

  Mr. MICA. Madam Speaker, I rise to recognize the life and 
accomplishments of William R. DeCota, the Director of Aviation for the 
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Bill was one of our Nation's 
great aviation leaders.
  I knew Bill DeCota for the last decade. When I became the Chairman of 
the Aviation Subcommittee I held a hearing at the World Trade Center on 
July 16, 2001, at the request of Bill DeCota and Neil Levin, Director 
of the New York Port Authority.
  During that visit to New York City, Bill and Neil invited me to tour 
the three major New York City airports. I knew Neil Levin when he was 
Legislative Director for Senator Al D'Amato and I served as Chief of 
Staff for Senator Paula Hawkins. After a hearing in the Port Authority 
chambers, they hosted my wife, Pat, and me at a luncheon in a Port 
Authority conference room adjacent to the Windows on the World 
Restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center.
  Levin and Port Authority employee, who assisted with the hearing in 
July, were in that very same conference room in the World Trade Center 
on September 11, and lost their lives.
  As fate would have it, Bill DeCota was at a conference in Montreal, 
Canada, on September 11th and survived the terrible events of that day.
  In the ensuing years, Bill and I often talked about the randomness of 
life. It is therefore striking that Bill died suddenly last Friday, 
September 11, 2009, eight years later.
  It must be noted that in the months and years after 9/11, Bill's 
stewardship of the world's busiest airport system was truly the 
greatest of any airport director.
  Bill joined the Port Authority as a financial analyst in 1982 and 
quickly rose through the ranks, serving as Manager of the Aviation 
Department's Business and Financial Services Division, Assistant 
Director of Aviation for Business and Properties, and Deputy Director 
of Aviation.
  He was named Director of Aviation in December 1999. As Director, Bill 
was responsible for John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty 
International, and LaGuardia Airports, and later Stewart Airport--which 
together comprise the world's largest aviation system. He was also 
responsible for Teterboro Airport.
  In that capacity, Bill oversaw the largest airport improvement 
program in U.S. history.
  Bill was recognized as an expert in aviation and was an active 
advocate for airport issues on Capitol Hill and in the business 
community.
  His expertise in managing airport congestion through prudent airport 
expansion, cutting-edge technologies and demand management was widely 
recognized in the aviation industry.
  Bill was also strongly committed to the community and was actively 
involved in numerous service organizations.
  He was a member of the Advisory Board of CUNY's Aviation Institute at 
York College, President of the Queens Council of the Boy Scouts of 
America, and a member of the Board of the Regional Business 
Partnership, the Airport Development Council and the Business Advisory 
Council of SUNY Farmingdale, among others.
  Bill received a bachelor's degree from the University of Mississippi, 
and an M.B.A. from the University of Georgia.
  He resided in Old Bridge, New Jersey.
  True to how he lived his life, funeral arrangements for Bill will be 
private. His family requests that contributions in his memory be made 
to Elijah's Promise, New Brunswick, New Jersey, which is a nonprofit 
organization that runs a soup kitchen and culinary school to train 
local people for food-service careers.
  My thoughts and prayers are with Bill's family. Bill DeCota and his 
expertise and contributions to aviation will be greatly missed.

                          ____________________