[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 135 (Wednesday, September 23, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S9730-S9731]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     TRIBUTE TO FRANK M. MCDONOUGH

 Mr. MENENDEZ. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize a man 
from New Jersey who, through his leadership and commitment to service, 
has given much back to the country and to his community. This month 
Frank McDonough is retiring as president of the New York Shipping 
Association where his leadership will be sorely missed. Frank still 
speaks with a native, no-nonsense Boston accent, but he is--through and 
through--a New Jerseyan at heart and in spirit. He has had three 
accomplished careers. His first was with the U.S. Marines where he 
spent 21 proud and glorious years. He enlisted in 1957 and rose to the 
rank of major in 1976. Major McDonough served in Vietnam in combat and 
combat service support units. In 1968, during the siege at Khe Sanh, he 
was communications officer of the 1st Battalion, 13th Marines. He was 
appointed acting battery commander for Headquarters Battery until the 
headquarters was lost to enemy rocket fire.
  He served as communications officer for the 2nd Battalion 26th 
Marines and for the 1st Reconnaissance Battalion. He was company 
commander of Echo Company, 2/26 and completed his tour as battalion 
operations officer under Marine legends COL ``Wild Bill'' Drumwright 
and LTC Bill Leftwich. In October, 1970, he was assigned to the United 
States Army Signal Center and School at Fort Monmouth where he 
graduated with honors and became the officer-in-charge of the Marine 
detachment and a distinguished instructor in the officer school. Major 
McDonough retired in 1978.
  Frank McDonough's second career was in law. He completed his 
undergraduate degree magna cum laude at Boston University and then 
earned a juris doctorate in 1983. He returned to the Garden State and 
joined the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office. Before long he became 
director of the Environmental Crimes Task Force. Then, as now, Frank 
McDonough had a strong sense of environmental responsibility. Frank's 
particular interest has been New Jersey's coastal environment.
  In 1986 he entered private practice. He was a member of the bar in 
New Jersey and the District of Columbia and was admitted to practice 
before the Third Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Supreme Court.
  Frank McDonough's third career got its start courtesy of Governor 
Christine Todd Whitman. Governor Whitman knew that Frank was the right 
person to help the State through a developing crisis that threatened 
the larger bistate region served by the Port of New York/New Jersey. 
The Governor appointed him to the dredged materials management team 
that was formed to resolve the ``mudlock,'' as the New York Times 
described the unprecedented dredging crisis. Early in my service as a 
Member of Congress I also focused efforts to find dredged material 
management solutions that would enable navigation dredging to resume.
  In 1995 Governor Whitman appointed Frank McDonough the State's first 
executive director of maritime resources. He worked with me and others 
to help arrive at workable solutions. Resolution was achieved by 1996 
with the help of the Clinton White House and the active involvement of 
Vice President Al Gore.
  Frank McDonough must have liked the challenges of the port world 
because that is where he made his third career. In 2000, he retired 
from the State and was appointed executive director of the advocacy 
organization, Nation'sPort, and served as a visiting professor and 
advisory board member of the Center for Maritime Systems at Stevens 
Institute of Technology.
  In 2001, Frank was elected president of the New York Shipping 
Association, the position from which he is now retiring. He has been 
the principal advocate for the marine terminal operators and steamship 
lines that call on the Port of New York/New Jersey, the third largest 
in the country. He has been responsible for negotiating and managing 
the labor contracts, comanaging the various welfare and pension 
programs, and hiring, training and dispatching the workers.
  Frank McDonough's watch at the port has been a dynamic and 
challenging period. Cargo experienced double digit growth for much of 
that time until last year when the trade market fell as the global 
economy went into recession. During this period the port has been at 
the forefront of port security initiatives in response to a more 
dangerous world and new Federal mandates developed to combat it. 
Frank's role has included serving as vice chairman of the New York 
Harbor Area Maritime Security Committee.
  Throughout this tumultuous time, Frank McDonough has been a steady 
figure on the business side of the port. He led his member companies to 
undertake important initiatives to reduce the port's environmental 
imprint even as cargo flow increased. He worked to reduce the port's 
dependency on trucking and increase the use of congestion-relieving 
rail and marine transportation for moving cargo between points in the 
U.S.
  Frank McDonough's contributions to his community and State's natural 
resources are a matter of record, including serving as president of the 
New Jersey Jaycees, president of the Monmouth-Ocean Development 
Council, founding president of the Friends of the Monmouth County 
Parks, and trustee of the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium. He 
also has been chairman of the New Jersey Tidelands Resource Council 
where he has served for 14 years under five Governors.
  Frank and his wife Rita have lived in Monmouth County, NJ. They have 
four

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sons and six grandchildren. I extend my sincere congratulations and 
thanks to Frank McDonough for making his State of New Jersey a better 
place to live and work.

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