[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 61 (Thursday, April 26, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E668]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        A TRIBUTE TO JOHN FORTIN

                                  _____
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 26, 2012

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor the 
life and legacy of John ``Jack'' Fortin, who passed away on April 20, 
2012. Jack and I coached football together at St. Thomas More High 
School in West Philadelphia in the 1970s.
  From his start as a truck driver for 7Up, Mr. Fortin became one of 
our nation's greatest entrepreneurs. He bought a small chemical 
manufacturing company in North Philadelphia that had about $150,000 in 
revenue and three employees in 1975 and built it into Haas Group 
International, a company with 1,300 employees and revenues of $560 
million that does business in more than 75 countries around the world.
  Mr. Fortin, known as Jack, grew up in Southwest Philadelphia. He took 
on his first job at age 8 delivering alcohol for his uncle during 
Prohibition.
  He attended John Bartram High School and played second base on 
Bartram's championship baseball team in 1941.
  After graduating from high school in 1942, Mr. Fortin joined the Navy 
that July. As a radioman second class, he spent his active duty in the 
Pacific and was in Nagasaki, Japan, two weeks after the atomic bomb was 
dropped. He earned two medals before his discharge in 1945.
  After the war he drove a truck for 7Up, where he met his future wife, 
Maria, who was the switchboard operator. He then got a job with Quaker 
Chemical in 1957. Eighteen years later he bought Haas Chemical. He 
retired in 2000, and in 2007 his family sold the business to the Jordan 
Co., a private equity firm.
  Mr. Fortin was a lifelong sports fan and spent more than 20 years 
coaching youth and CYO football. His last stop was as assistant varsity 
coach and head freshman coach at St. Thomas More High School in West 
Philadelphia until it closed in 1975.
  During his lifetime, Mr. Fortin received many awards and 
commendations for his contributions to youth sports but perhaps his 
greatest thrills in sport were leading all hitters at the age of 62 at 
Phillies Dream Week in 1985 and receiving the Matt Guokas Sr. Memorial 
Award from the Philadelphia Basketball Old Timers Association.
  Together with Jack's family and friends, I mourn his passing but 
celebrate his life.

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