[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 3 (Friday, January 7, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E43]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     IN TRIBUTE TO STUART APPELBAUM

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, January 7, 2011

  Mrs. MALONEY. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to Stuart Appelbaum, 
an extraordinary man and my good friend, who has served with 
distinction as President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store 
Union, representing thousands of working men and women across our 
nation. Last month, Mr. Appelbaum was honored by the venerable 
Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) organization at its annual 
Roosevelt Day Dinner at the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown Manhattan.
  Stuart Appelbaum became President of the Retail, Wholesale and 
Department Store Union on May 1, 1998, and has been re-elected to the 
position twice since then. He previously served as International 
Secretary-Treasurer, Vice President, Executive Board Member, Assistant 
to the President and Coordinator of Special Projects for the union. Stu 
Appelbaum is also an International Vice President and member of the 
Executive Board of the 1.4 million-member United Food and Commercial 
Workers International Union. He is the President of the Jewish Labor 
Committee, and an officer of two global union federations: the 
International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, 
Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations and Union Network 
International. He is a Vice President of the Consortium for Worker 
Education.
  Mr. Appelbaum has also served as a Vice President of the national 
AFL-CIO, a member of the federation's Executive Council from 1998 until 
2005, vice president of the New York State AFL-CIO and of the New York 
City Central Labor Council. An honors graduate of Brandeis University 
and Harvard Law School, he previously served as Chief House Counsel of 
the Democratic National Committee and as Executive Assistant to the 
Secretary of the State of Connecticut.-
  A skilled and tireless political activist who has dedicated his life 
to progressive causes, Stu Appelbaum was elected a Delegate to the 
1996, 2000, 2004, and 2008 Democratic National Conventions and an 
Alternate Delegate to the 1992 Democratic National Convention. In 2008, 
he served as a member of the Electoral College as an Obama elector from 
New York.
  By honoring Stuart Appelbaum last month, ADA is upholding its finest 
progressive traditions. Founded by Eleanor Roosevelt, John Kenneth 
Galbraith, Walter Reuther, Arthur Schlesinger, and Reinhold Niebuhr, 
the ADA seeks to promote and preserve Franklin D. Roosevelt's vision 
for a New Deal for the American people resulting in a more just 
society.
  With the election of President Obama, the ADA's mission of promoting 
progressive American values has gained renewed momentum. Past 
presidents of the ADA include several of my distinguished colleagues in 
this House: Barney Frank, Charles Rangel, John Lewis, and Jim 
McDermott. Stuart Appelbaum is a proud heir to the ADA's long and 
honored tradition, and it is therefore entirely fitting that his 
lifetime of extraordinarily effective and passionate advocacy has been 
recognized by Americans for Democratic Action.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that my distinguished colleagues join me in 
honoring Stuart Appelbaum, a great American and a great New Yorker 
whose life's work has improved the lives and working conditions of 
countless individuals.

                          ____________________