[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 145 (Thursday, October 8, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2499]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            A TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE PAUL BURGESS FAY, JR.

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, October 8, 2009

  Ms. ESHOO. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the extraordinary 
life and work of a distinguished American, a friend and an American 
hero, Paul Burgess ``Red'' Fay Jr., who passed away on September 23, 
2009, at the age of 91. He leaves his beloved wife, Anita, to whom he 
was married for 62 years; his children Paul Fay III, Katherine Fay and 
Sally Fay Cottingham; and seven grandchildren.
  Mr. Fay, a fourth-generation San Franciscan, was born in San 
Francisco in 1918 to a distinguished family. His father, Paul B. Fay 
Sr., was President of the Fay Improvement Company, a paving contracting 
firm founded in 1875, and gave young Paul the nickname ``Red'' as a 
child, which his friends called him for the rest of his life. He 
graduated from Stanford University in 1941 with a Bachelor's Degree in 
Economics and he enlisted in the Navy shortly after the Japanese attack 
on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II.
  It was during his service in the Navy that Mr. Fay met and became 
friends with President John F. Kennedy. In 1942, after attending 
Officer Training School, Mr. Fay was assigned to PT boat training in 
Melville, Rhode Island, where the future President was his instructor. 
They met during a touch football game. They were later assigned to the 
same base in the South Pacific and became friends after both of their 
boats were damaged. President Kennedy's PT-109 was attacked in an event 
that made him a war hero, and Mr. Fay's boat was struck by a torpedo, 
after which he was awarded a Bronze Star. While their ships were 
temporarily out of action, they roomed together in a small Quonset hut 
and became fast and lasting friends.
  After the war, Mr. Fay returned to San Francisco and joined the 
family business. In 1947, he married the love of his life, Anita 
Marquez of Mill Valley. He remained close with John F. Kennedy and 
became a political supporter and a trusted adviser in his inner circle, 
working on his election campaigns for the House of Representatives, 
Senate, and the Presidency. When John Kennedy was elected President in 
1960, he appointed Mr. Fay Under Secretary of the Navy, an office he 
held until January 1965.
  After leaving Washington, Mr. Fay returned to the Bay Area and the 
family business, which he sold and later resurrected as a financial 
consulting and business ventures firm. He wrote a best-selling book, 
``The Pleasure of His Company,'' a memoir of his close friendship with 
the late President Kennedy. He became a founding partner of William 
Hutchinson & Co., an investment research and brokerage firm, and he was 
for many years a director of First American Financial and Vestaur 
Securities. He retired from business in 2005.
  Among Mr. Fay's many social and charitable activities was his work 
with Youth Tennis Advantage, a Bay Area organization that helps teach 
tennis to at-risk youth. He also contributed his time to such 
charitable causes as the Robert Odell Foundation, the Robert F. Kennedy 
Foundation, and the American Ireland Fund, whose San Francisco Chapter 
named him ``Man of the Year'' in 1995. He was a trustee of the Naval 
War College Foundation and of Mount St. Joseph-St. Elizabeth of San 
Francisco, and he was a member of the Pacific Union Club, Bohemian 
Club, Burlingame Country Club, Chevy Chase Club, California Tennis Club 
and the Vintage in Indian Wells, California.
  Mr. Fay was an extraordinary host, an accomplished master of 
ceremonies and indefatigable organizer of everything from charities to 
family touch-football games. An accomplished athlete, he played 
baseball at Stanford and enjoyed tennis and golf well into his 
eighties. He was a central figure in Bay Area society whose warmth and 
charm never failed to draw others to him, and he had hundreds of 
friends from all walks of life. He was a man of great integrity and 
everyone who knew him came away a better person.
  Madam Speaker, I ask the entire House of Representatives to join me 
in honoring a national treasure and an extraordinary American, Paul 
Burgess ``Red'' Fay, and in extending my deepest sympathy to his entire 
family during this difficult time. He represented the best of America 
and his decades of contributions to his family and friends, his 
community and his country stand as lasting legacies of a life lived 
exceedingly well. How privileged I am to have known him, to represent 
him and to have had him as my friend. He loved his community and his 
country and he served both with distinction, making our Nation a better 
place for generations to come.

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