[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 60 (Thursday, May 5, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2714-S2715]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      TRIBUTE TO HAROLD SCHNITZER

  Mr. WYDEN. I come to the floor to honor a man who touched every 
corner of my home State of Oregon. Harold Schnitzer left his mark on 
our business community, the arts, health care, education, and 
practically every nook and cranny of my home State.
  Harold Schnitzer died last week of complications relating to cancer 
and diabetes. He learned of his impending death earlier this year and 
faced it with extraordinary style, grace, and the wit that marked his 
87 years of life.
  Those who knew Harold Schnitzer describe him in one of two ways. Many 
knew him as a powerful and philanthropic force in our State. Others 
knew him as approachable, easygoing, and especially as a person who 
never took himself all that seriously. I knew him

[[Page S2715]]

in both ways, and I knew him as a friend.
  Like many in Oregon, I am saddened by Harold's passing. Harold was a 
successful real estate developer. He and his wife of 62 years, Arlene, 
gave generously to my alma mater, the University of Oregon, and to 
Portland State University. They established the Harold Schnitzer 
Diabetes Health Center at the Oregon Health Sciences University. Their 
gifts of art and financial support helped transform our Portland Art 
Museum into a center for regional art works.
  The generosity of Harold and Arlene can be found throughout Oregon in 
places such as the Oregon Zoo, a special favorite of my children, Lewis 
and Clark College, the Mittleman Jewish Community Center, the Oregon 
Symphony, the Oregon Ballet, and the Portland Opera. A centerpiece of 
Oregon's art community is the beautiful Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall 
in our downtown Portland community. It is affectionately known as ``the 
Schnitz.''
  Harold Schnitzer was a humble man, and he came from humble roots. As 
a boy, he earned 25 cents a week polishing metal in his father's 
Portland scrap yard. From there it was on to the Massachusetts 
Institute of Technology for a degree in metallurgy, and then he went on 
to a career in real estate.
  Certainly, our colleagues from the bay area of California know who 
Harold Schnitzer was because with great pride he restored the historic 
Claremont Hotel Club and Spa in Berkeley to its former glory. In true 
Harold Schnitzer fashion, when he sold the hotel in 1998 the proceeds 
provided the funding for two family charitable foundations.
  We have lost a man, but, fortunately, we have not lost his vision and 
his generosity. His wife Arlene will continue to stand for those kinds 
of good works in our home State, and their son Jordan, a successful 
businessman in his own right who shares his parents' passion for 
philanthropy, continues every single day to look for opportunities to 
serve our home State. You can look no further than the Jordan Schnitzer 
Museum of Art in Eugene and downtown Portland's Simon and Helen 
Director Park, named for his maternal grandparents.
  What I liked most about Harold Schnitzer was his very wry sense of 
humor and particular knack for summarizing the events of our time. I 
remember often when I would see him after a particularly spirited 
discussion in the Senate. Harold had a great interest in politics and 
was a devout consumer of all the Sunday morning talk shows. After a 
particularly volcanic debate in Washington, DC, about some issue where 
it seemed nothing could get resolved, I would go home and be out and 
about, perhaps at the grocery store in Portland, and I would see 
Harold. He would tug on my elbow and say: I have been watching what is 
going on in Washington, DC, Ron. Got things pretty much worked out back 
there, do you?
  He would kind of chuckle and sort of express perfectly his sense of 
the irony of the challenges we have in Washington, DC. He knew somehow 
we would always get through them. Whenever I was around Harold, I got a 
sense that he really captured some of the irony of what goes on in 
Washington, DC, very well. He brought that same kind of approach and 
that light touch and combination of humor and irony to so much of what 
he did.
  In my view, Harold Schnitzer represented what was good in humanity. 
His legacy of good works is going to go forward. But for all those who 
didn't know him personally, didn't know him like I had the chance to, I 
wanted to take just a few minutes to tell the Senate and our country 
that Harold Schnitzer was a very special man. In my view, he was what I 
call a vintage Oregonian--somebody who got up every day and tried to 
make our State and country a better place. He will be greatly missed.
  With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Manchin). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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