[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 108 (Wednesday, July 18, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1273-E1274]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    TRIBUTE TO JOSEPH SMUKLER, ESQ.

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. ROBERT A. BRADY

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 18, 2012

  Mr. BRADY of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor my friend, 
the late Joseph Smukler, Esq.
  Joseph was a giant of a man. He was a humanitarian, a philanthropist, 
a scholar and an attorney of great renown. He was universally 
recognized as one of the most public spirited citizens of the Delaware 
Valley.
  Joe was a tireless advocate of the voiceless. The urge to advocate 
led to his leadership on behalf of Jews persecuted in the former Soviet 
Union and to reach out to the poor and disadvantaged at home through 
charitable work. His professional advocacy led his statewide peers to 
recognize him as Pennsylvania's ``Super Lawyer'' in 2004.
  Joseph had a keen intellect, which he honed as a cum laude graduate 
of Kenyon College, with an A.B. and Highest Honors in Economics, 
Harvard Law School where he earned an LL.B., Oxford University England 
where he attained a Graduate Diploma in law, and at Gratz College where 
he was awarded his Doctor of Hebrew Laws (Hon.)
  He was a natural leader who served as a First Lieutenant in the 
United States Air Force. That talent and leadership ability advanced 
him through the legal ranks to the positions of senior partner and 
chairman of the Personal

[[Page E1274]]

Injury Group at the prestigious firm of Fox, Rothschild LLP.
  Joseph's leadership and commitment to community propelled him to the 
ranks of our region's great philanthropists. He was a past president of 
the Family Service of the Main Line, Jewish Campus Activities Board 
(Hillel), Association for Jewish Children, and the Jewish Community 
Relations Council, where he was also honorary President. He served as 
Commissioner of the Philadelphia Fellowship Commission, Chairman of Har 
Zion Radnor Temple, Vice-President and Board of Trustees member of Har 
Zion Temple, Vice-Chairman of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry 
and founding Co-Chair of the Philadelphia Soviet Jewry Council.
  Joe served on the Boards of United Way of Greater Philadelphia and 
the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. He was a past 
Chairman of the Board of the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia 
and Vice President of the National Museum of American Jewish History 
and Vice-Chair of the Anti-Defamation League. He was a recipient of the 
Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia's highest honor, the 2003 
Avodat Ha Kodesh Community Award and is a member of Central High School 
of Philadelphia's Hall of Fame. He and his beloved wife Constance 
received the Soviet Jewry Council Human Rights Award, the Mellon Bank 
Good Neighbor Award and the State of Israel Bonds Humanitarian Award. 
Together they chaired the ``Israel 50'' celebration and the first 
Philadelphia Jewish Book Fair.
  But, more than anything, Joe was a loving family man. He cherished 
and inspired his children and grand children and lived for Constance. 
He will be deeply missed by all of us and I'm proud to have known him.

                          ____________________