[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 81 (Wednesday, May 28, 2014)]
[House]
[Pages H4839-H4841]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  IN MEMORY OF EMANUEL RAYMOND LEWIS, LIBRARIAN EMERITUS OF THE U.S. 
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an 
extraordinary life, to an extraordinary individual, to a dear and good 
friend of mine for many, many years. Emanuel Raymond Lewis was the 
librarian emeritus, the last and longest-serving librarian of the U.S. 
House of Representatives, a prolific author, archivist, educator, 
humorist, historian, illustrator, psychologist, and recognized expert 
on military and naval history. He died on May 14.
  He was the husband of my former chief of staff, Eleanor Lewis, an 
extraordinary individual in her own right, who had been Geraldine 
Ferraro's chief of staff as well.
  Ray Lewis was a man of great intellect, of great warmth, and of great 
contributions to this institution, to his country, to his family, and 
to the intellectual education of so many.
  Ray Lewis was a man of the House and so much more. He lived a life of 
vast experience. He was, as Eleanor observed, a genuine Renaissance 
man. He loved his work and his scholarship and service to the House and 
to this country, which he enriched so extraordinarily well.
  During his tenure as an officer in the House, Dr. Lewis combined 
disciplined intellect with a deep interest in the House's history and 
patience to guide House Members and staff seeking historical 
understanding of this institution.
  During the House Judiciary Committee impeachment hearings on 
President Nixon, Dr. Lewis provided critical historical references to 
guide the committee in its work. And he honored the tradition of the 
office he headed, authoring a history of the House Library and 
promoting ties with the Senate Library and the Library of Congress' 
Congressional Research Service.
  As I said, Mr. Speaker, I knew Ray Lewis for much of the time I 
served in the House of Representatives. I got to know him, his sense of 
humor, his sense of this institution, his sense of decency, and his 
sense of excitement of what was going on here and around the world. 
With Eleanor, he traveled in much of the world; and in each place, he 
learned something new and brought it home for all of us.
  Dr. Lewis created extraordinary research on fortifications, coastal 
fortifications, river fortifications. He was, indeed, one of the 
world's experts on that particular historical focus.
  Eleanor Lewis, as I said, was my former chief of staff. She is still 
a very dear and close friend. She and Ray were partners in life for 
over four decades. They were partners, as well, in intellectual 
pursuits and in their love of this country and of this institution, the 
House of Representatives. They enriched all.
  Ray Lewis was born to two Siberian immigrants in Oakland, California, 
on November 30, 1928. He attended the University of California at 
Berkeley and the University of Oregon. While enrolled at the University 
of Oregon, he studied with a grant from the National Institute of 
Mental Health. He became a tenured psychology professor in the Oregon 
University system for a half dozen years. Dr. Lewis was among the

[[Page H4840]]

first psychology professors to participate in the creation of the 
Oregon State Board of Psychologist Examiners and was the first Oregon 
professor to teach on campus through television. A Renaissance man, a 
man before his time.
  He had a lifelong love of public spaces and actively worked to 
preserve parkland. In fact, on May 27, 1937, at the age of 8, he joined 
his parents and his brother Albert, now deceased, in walking across the 
Golden Gate Bridge on opening day. He donated specimens unearthed at 
forts to national and State parks, including Fort Stevens at the mouth 
of the Columbia River in Oregon. Ray Lewis, to the very end of his 
life, digested life, welcomed life.
  Tennyson wrote a poem about Ulysses, in which he said: ``I am a part 
of all that I have met; yet all experience is an arch wherethrough 
gleams that untravelled world, whose margin fades for ever and for ever 
when I move.'' That was Ray Lewis' psyche. He saw life as an ever-
expanding opportunity to enrich himself and to enrich others with his 
intellect and his excitement for what could be done and how well he 
participated in doing for this House, for this country, and for his 
family.
  Mr. Speaker, my remarks are longer than this, and I will not repeat 
all of them. Much of them have been contributed by his wife's 
observations and her writing skills, and I would ask that they be 
included in the Record. I have read some of them, but the remarks I 
give about him are personal because he was my friend. He was an 
American to be admired by us all. He was a good citizen, a great 
American, a man of the House.
  My sympathy to Eleanor for her loss, but to all of us, as well, for 
our loss of a good and decent man who made such a contribution to this 
country and to all of us.


  in memory of emanuel raymond lewis, librarian emeritus of the U.S. 
                        house of representatives

  Emanuel Raymond Lewis, Librarian Emeritus, the last and longest 
serving Librarian of the U.S. House of Representatives, prolific 
author, archivist, educator, humorist, historian, illustrator, 
psychologist, and recognized expert on military and naval history, died 
May 14 in Suburban Hospital, Bethesda, MD. The cause of death was 
dementia.
  Dr. Lewis was appointed House Librarian in 1973, and served until 
January 1995 when the library, which predated the Library of Congress, 
along with the House Historical Office, was down-sized and placed under 
the Legislative Resource Center. The Library was the official custodian 
of all documents generated by the House.
  Ray Lewis was a man of the House, and so much more. Ray lived a life 
of vast experience--he was a genuine Renaissance man. He loved his 
work, and his scholarship and service to the House and to this country 
left us all enriched.
  During his tenure as an officer of the House, Dr. Lewis combined 
disciplined intellect with a deep interest in the House's history and 
the patience to guide House members and staff seeking historical 
understanding of this institution. During the House Judiciary 
Committee's impeachment hearings on President Nixon, Lewis provided 
critical historical references to guide the committee in its work. And 
he honored the tradition of the office he headed, authoring a history 
of ``The House Library'' and promoting the ties with the Senate Library 
and the Library of Congress' Congressional Research Service.
  From his service as an officer in military intelligence from 1954-
1956, Dr. Lewis developed a life-long interest in the history of 
military architecture and technology in the United States, which 
culminated in the 1970 publication of ``Seacoast Fortifications of the 
United States'' published by the Smithsonian Institution Press. He 
wrote this work while a Post-Doctoral Research Associate 1969-1970 at 
The Smithsonian Institution. Initially an architectural student at the 
University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Lewis turned his early 
drawing talents to illustrate his book.
  Commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps, he 
transferred to Military Intelligence when the Corps was abolished 
shortly after his commission. As commander of a group of Soviet 
military defectors--Lewis was a native Russian speaker--he was assigned 
responsibility for testing security at military bases. He retired as a 
Captain.
  Dr. Lewis researched military documents in the National Archives, and 
traveled extensively to fortification sites around the country for his 
book, the first comprehensive work on the subject of coastal 
fortifications in a century, now used by the U.S. National Park Service 
in training their employees. This seminal work examined the prominent 
role played by these fortifications in American defense policy prior to 
World War II.
  Lewis was accompanied on these travels by his future wife, Eleanor 
(Gamarsh) Lewis, the couple referred to the time as ``their forting 
days in lieu of their courting days.'' Travel would become a constant 
in their lives together--his proposal of marriage included an unusual 
vow--``marry me and I will take you to Tashkent, Samarkand, and 
Bukhara''--and he did. Over 45 years they would visit every continent, 
and more than 100 countries.
  Dr. Lewis published widely in military and naval-related journals 
including ``Military Affairs,'' the ``U.S. Naval Institute 
Proceedings,'' ``The Military Engineer,'' ``Capitol Studies,'' ``U.S. 
Naval Institute Proceedings;'' ``Military Engineer,'' ``Dictionary of 
American History,'' Encyclopedia of the United States Congress''; and 
``Warship International.'' Editors of the latter publication honored 
his work in their annual ``Best Articles of the Year'' on three 
separate occasions.
  In 1969 working for System Development Corporation of Santa Monica, 
CA, considered the world's first computer software company, Dr. Lewis 
co-authored ``The Educational Information Center: An Introduction,'' a 
general guide to the process of establishing an educational information 
center.
  Born to Siberian immigrants in Oakland, CA, November 30, 1928, Dr. 
Lewis attended the University of California at Berkeley (BA/MA) and the 
University of Oregon (PhD). While enrolled at the University of Oregon 
he studied with a grant from the National Institutes of Mental Health 
(NIMH). He became a tenured psychology professor in the Oregon 
University System for a half-dozen years. Dr. Lewis was among the first 
psychology professors to participate in the creation of the Oregon 
State Board of Psychologist Examiners, and the first Oregon professor 
to teach on campus through television.
  Dr. Lewis had a life-long love of public spaces and actively worked 
to preserve parkland. On May 27, 1937 at age 8, he joined his parents 
and his brother Albert, now deceased, in walking across the Golden Gate 
Bridge on opening day. He donated specimens unearthed at forts to 
national and state parks, including Fort Stevens at the mouth of the 
Columbia River in Oregon.
  To honor his father, Jacob A. Lewis, Dr. Lewis donated ten acres to 
the city of Hayward, CA--the ``J.A. Lewis Park'' is now part of the 
Hayward (CA) Area Recreation and Park District. The elder Lewis had 
donated the same land area--ten acres--in San Francisco to build 
Congregation Ner Tamid.
  In 1965, Dr. Lewis prepared ``A History of San Francisco Harbor 
Defense Installations: Forts Baker, Barry, Cronkhite, and Funston'' for 
the State of California Division of Beaches and Parks. This work, which 
evolved into Dr. Lewis' later book on coastal fortification, was 
instrumental in the formation of the Golden Gate National Recreation 
Area (GGNRA) in 1972. In 1971 Dr. Lewis was called to testify before a 
subcommittee of the House Interior Committee during hearings on 
creating the GGNRA.
  Dr. Lewis was well-known to House Members and especially staff who 
sought his help in researching issues before the Congress. He was 
regarded as a friendly curmudgeon who could be relied on to quickly 
locate helpful historical information. The time he saved those 
staffers, however, was all too frequently consumed in conversation 
about whatever matter Dr. Lewis happened to be engaged in researching 
at the time.
  His curiosity and love of learning spanned a wide range of interests. 
Those interests were manifested in his personal collection authentic 
African spears, including several purchased in Umhlanga, South Africa, 
which were used in the 1879 Anglo-Zulu War; the muzzle of a 16-inch gun 
from the USS Indiana now on display at the Navy Museum in Washington, 
DC; a 1954 MG which was best of show in the 25th Anniversary of the 
``Concours d'Elegance'' June 29, 1997 in Forest Grove, Oregon; and 
Soviet Field Marshal memorabilia. Side interests included the study of 
California geography, and Native American tribes--the House Librarian 
was once called upon by Vice President Spiro Agnew for advice on the 
authentic pronunciation of tribal names.
  It was fitting that the House Librarian--in the tradition of 
Jefferson--held thousands of books in his personal collection.
  Ray's passions for travel and collecting items of interest came 
together when it came to trains. It's hard to know whether his 
collection of train models, especially those of the Southern Pacific 
Daylight, came from the time he spent riding the rails, but we know he 
loved traveling by train. His adventures included a cross-country 
excursion from Washington, DC to San Francisco, as well as passage on 
the Trans-Siberian Railway from Khabarovsk to Moscow. Along with his 
trips on the Canadian and Pacific Railways, Ray's rail experiences, 
like so much of his life, were full and adventurous.
  For all his scholarly activities, Lewis took great pleasure in 
hanging out with some of the

[[Page H4841]]

legendary cultural figures of his time--jazz greats Louis Armstrong and 
Dave Brubeck, as well as comedy giants Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl at San 
Francisco's ``Hungry i.''
  An engaging and enthusiastic raconteur, Lewis could entertain with 
stories of juicy irony from the day's news, or of his time playing 
slots with Frank Sinatra in Reno, Nevada when the singer was obtaining 
his divorce from Ava Gardner. His own performing exploits--he sang and 
played guitar--ended with producing musicals and comedies in graduate 
school.
  Born with a rare cholesterol disorder, Dr. Lewis first entered NIH in 
1964 as an in-patient, and was involved in the National Heart, Lung, 
and Blood Institutes' research protocols that led to the discovery of 
the statin drugs. Dr. Donald S. Fredrickson, named by President Gerald 
Ford to become head of the National Institutes in 1974, was Lewis's 
doctor; Lewis was a research patient in Dr. Frederickson's 1967 paper 
describing the classification of lipoprotein abnormalities in five 
types. This became known as the ``Frederick classification,'' later 
adopted as a standard by the World Health Organization in 1972.
  A devoted atheist, Dr. Lewis became a minister in the Universal Life 
Church, Inc., in the 1960s--he liked to joke that he could marry you or 
bury you--your choice. In 1999, he experienced a lifetime thrill when 
he met the Dalai Lama at a dinner in Washington, DC. The Lewises had 
recently visited Lhasa, Tibet and at the dinner presented the Dalai 
Lama with photographs of Norbulingka, the summer palace from which he 
escaped the Chinese in March 1959.
  Dr. Lewis is survived by his wife of 47 years, Eleanor G. Lewis of 
Washington, DC, my former Chief of Staff; his son Joseph J. Lewis of 
Eugene, Oregon, cousin Ruth Lycette, her son and daughter-in-law, Bob 
and Kathy Lycette of Palo Alto and San Carlos respectively; his cousin 
in law, Eve DeLanis of Virginia Beach, VA; a sister-in-law, Roberta 
Foulke and her husband, Robert, of Las Vegas, Nevada, 11 nieces and 
nephews, and many great nieces and nephews.

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