[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 95 (Wednesday, June 18, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1017]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  MARKING THE PASSING OF WILLIAM ROTH

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. NANCY PELOSI

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 18, 2014

  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, our country has lost a great visionary, 
civic leader, businessman and dedicated public servant, William Matson 
Roth. Mr. Roth passed away on May 29th in Petaluma, California at the 
age of 97, surrounded by his loving family
  Bill Roth was born into a prominent and respected family in San 
Francisco, grandson of Captain William Matson, founder of the Matson 
Navigation Company, and son of Luriline and William Philip Roth. He 
chose to use the opportunities afforded by his privileged family to 
make life better for his community, his state and his nation.
  He was widely known for the redevelopment, with his mother Luriline, 
of the popular Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, buying the property 
as a dilapidated factory and growing it into a world-renowned 
collection of shops and restaurants that has been one of our City's top 
attractions and has been imitated in cities across the country. It is 
now considered a forerunner of what urban planners call ``adaptive 
reuse,'' and is listed on the National Historic Register.
  Mr. Roth served the public throughout his long life, including as a 
Cabinet-level Trade Ambassador in ``the Kennedy round'' of negotiations 
under President Lyndon Johnson. Mr. Roth was appointed to the 
University of California's Board of Regents by Governor Edmund G. 
``Pat'' Brown, where he served for 16 years. He helped found the 
Ploughshares Fund, an advocacy group working for the elimination of 
nuclear weapons. He was President of the Board of the San Francisco 
Museum of Modern Art, a director of the American Civil Liberties Union 
(ACLU), and president of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research 
Association (SPUR). He was a proud and progressive Democrat who ran for 
Governor of California in 1974.
  I hope that it is a comfort to his beloved wife Joan, his daughters 
Anna, Jessica and Maggie, and his grand and great-grandchildren that so 
many people throughout the world share their grief and mourn the loss 
of a generous, civic-minded and visionary leader.

                          ____________________