[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 52 (Tuesday, April 1, 2014)]
[House]
[Page H2749]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             HAPPY 90TH BIRTHDAY, GOVERNOR BRENDAN T. BYRNE

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
Jersey (Mr. Lance) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LANCE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor the distinguished 
public service of the Honorable Brendan T. Byrne, the 47th Governor of 
New Jersey, who today celebrates his 90th birthday. He has lived longer 
than any governor in the history of our State.
  Governor Byrne was born on April 1, 1924, in West Orange, Essex 
County, and currently lives in the Short Hills section of Millburn 
Township, Essex County, in the congressional district I have the honor 
of serving.
  He graduated from West Orange High School in 1942 and served during 
World War II in the Army Air Corps, where he advanced to the rank of 
lieutenant and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and four Air 
Medals.
  One of his fingers was frostbitten as the result of the conditions 
during his heroic air service over Germany late in the war.
  Governor Byrne was graduated from Princeton University in 1949, 
majoring in public and international affairs, our first Governor to 
receive an undergraduate degree from Princeton since Woodrow Wilson in 
1879, 70 years earlier. Governor Byrne received his law degree from 
Harvard University in 1951.
  In the 1950s, as a young man, he served as a close aide to Governor 
Robert B. Meyner, who appointed him Essex County prosecutor in 1959. 
Governor Richard J. Hughes reappointed him prosecutor in 1964 and named 
him president of the State Board of Public Utilities in 1968.
  Respected by both political parties, he was appointed by Republican 
Governor William T. Cahill to our superior court in 1970.
  He was overwhelmingly elected Governor in 1973 and reelected in an 
uphill political campaign in 1977. During his tenure, the Pinelands 
Protection Act became law, and casino hotel development began in 
Atlantic City. Impeccably honest, he served as our Governor with great 
distinction. His dry wit is a joy to hear and deeply appreciated by 
countless New Jerseyans.
  I was honored to have Governor Byrne as a professor when I was a 
student at the Woodrow Wilson School of Princeton University in the 
early 1980s and recall fondly his superb teaching skills and generosity 
of spirit and time as the class met weekly at Morven, the historic 
Governor's residence in Princeton, built by Richard Stockton, a signer 
of the Declaration of Independence.
  Governor Byrne is a wonderful father and grandfather, teacher and 
mentor, colleague and friend. His dynamic and vivacious wife, Ruthi 
Zinn Byrne, is known to many New Jerseyans for her significant 
charitable activities. They are an integral part of the fabric of New 
Jersey.
  On his 90th birthday, I congratulate Governor Brandon T. Byrne and 
wish him many years ahead of good health and happiness.

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