[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 67 (Tuesday, May 6, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E687]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TRIBUTE TO GEORGE ``JERRY'' GOODMAN

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RUSH HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 6, 2014

  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to George ``Jerry'' 
Goodman who died on January 3, and who will be remembered and whose 
loss will be mourned in New York today. I regret I cannot be there in 
person to praise my friend. As a leader in the economics and business 
community, Mr. Goodman was best recognized for his pseudonym, Adam 
Smith of Adam Smith's Money World, an alias he used for his thirteen 
year public television program. He understood the complexity of 
investing and economics, and became an educator to the everyday 
American investor through his books such as ``The Money Game,'' 
``Supermoney,'' and ``The Roaring '80s.''
  Like many Americans, I have learned from and valued Jerry's timeless 
work. He was endlessly curious and interested in many ideas and issues. 
He has also been acknowledged for his particular style for presenting 
economic data, and his witty sense of humor brought joy to many. His 
talent for including humor, even jocularity, remains an Adam Smith's 
trademark. It is Adam Smith that we have to thank for the well-
recognized story known to many economists. The story presents a 
physicist, a chemist, and an economist stranded on a desert island with 
no implements and a can of food as their only source of sustenance. The 
physicist and the chemist each devised ingenious mechanisms for opening 
the can; the economist merely said, ``It's easy. First, assume there is 
a can opener!'' His humor only enhanced his explanatory prose. Prior to 
his Adam Smith days, Mr. Goodman helped start Institutional Investor 
magazine, served as executive editor of Esquire, and published a 
popular children's book, ``Bascombe, the Fastest Hound Alive,'' which 
he claimed was his most widely read work. Jerry used his experience as 
an intelligence analyst in the Army to write about countless topics for 
Barron's Time, Fortune, and various other magazines.
  Jerry, his charming, remarkable late wife, Sally, and I had many 
fascinating discussions on a huge variety of matters, always enjoyable 
and illuminating. I also have been pleased to work with his daughter 
Susannah, who leads Common Cause's national campaign for election 
reform, on a number of issues to improve the function of our democracy. 
We continue to benefit from Mr. Goodman's ability to explain complex 
economic data in a way that we can all understand.

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