[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 156 (Friday, October 23, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1528-E1529]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN MEMORY OF SIMON KONOVER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JOHN B. LARSON

                             of connecticut

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 23, 2015

  Mr. LARSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to remember 
Simon Konover, who passed away on October 20, 2015 in Delray Beach, 
Florida at the age of 93. Konover was the founder and patriarch of The 
Simon Konover Company and Konover South, a diversified, fully 
integrated real estate empire, based in West Hartford, Connecticut and 
Deerfield Beach, Florida.
  The Konover organization achieved national stature, based upon strong 
ethics and innovation. This family-owned business now spans three 
generations. The companies, established in 1957, have developed, 
constructed, owned and operated properties throughout the Midwest and 
Eastern U.S., stretching from Maine to Florida. The company's extensive 
portfolio has included shopping centers, hotels, residential 
communities, office buildings, industrial buildings, mixed use and 
specialty properties. Over the course of its history the Konover 
companies have owned and operated 15 million square feet of retail, 
20,000 apartment units, 2 million square feet of office space, 4000 
hotel rooms and more.
  Konover is also recognized as an exceptional philanthropist, as a 
pillar of both the national and Hartford Jewish communities, and as one 
of Connecticut's outstanding civic leaders. His deeds, accomplishments 
and commitment are legendary. His life was devoted to community, 
enormous generosity and kind deeds. A complete list of organizations 
that he was involved in, and honors received, could fill pages and are 
too numerous to recount here. A sampling: Konover is a Junior 
Achievement Laureate and member of its Business Hall of Fame. He was 
recognized as Hotelier of the Year by the Connecticut Lodging and 
Restaurant Associations. Konover was a trustee of the Doris and Simon 
Konover Family Foundation. He donated construction management services 
to Paul Newman's Hole in the Wall Gang Camp for seriously ill children 
in Ashford, Connecticut and also initiated the creation of an 
affiliated camp in Israel. Konover built campus housing at the 
University of Hartford, and along with his wife Doris, was instrumental 
in creating the Konover Campus Center there. They are founding 
supporters of the Center for Judaic Studies and Contemporary Jewish 
Life at the University of Connecticut, which among its numerous 
activities expanded its study of human rights.
  In addition to endowing that Center's first faculty chair, their 
other major donations to UCONN include the University Libraries, the 
Thomas J. Dodd Center, the Kosher Dining Center and UCONN Health 
Center. Konover received three honorary doctoral degrees: from UCONN, 
University of Hartford and Gratz College. Recognition of Konover's 
community contributions are countless and include the Prime Minister's 
New Life Award from the National Committee for Israel Bonds. He 
received the Distinguished Service Award to the Cause of Good Relations 
from the National Conference for Community and Justice. He is a founder 
of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. and 
served as President and Campaign Chairman for the Jewish Federation of 
Greater Hartford, where he was also honored as a Life Director. He 
received the JFACT Community Builder Award. He is a founding member of 
Beth El Temple in West Hartford and a major donor to the new Hebrew 
High School of New England in West Hartford and Hebrew University in 
Israel.
  Konover was born in the small shtetl of Makow Mazowieki in Poland, 
one of 8 children. At age 16 at the start of World War II in 1939, he 
was interned in a Nazi labor farm, where he survived unimaginable 
indignities. He narrowly escaped to Russia, where he was drafted into 
its army. He endured many hardships as a truck driver delivering 
supplies to the front line during the Battle of Stalingrad. He was 
imprisoned for one year in a Siberian hard labor camp until the war's 
end in 1945. Konover often stated that he ``lived minute to minute, not 
hour to hour.'' He survived the war with his brother Harold, but lost 
his parents, five siblings, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews,

[[Page E1529]]

extended family members, friends and his entire way of life in the 
Holocaust. In 1949 he immigrated to the United States, after first 
living as a refugee in France and Cuba. In the United States, he met 
his oldest brother David for the first time. David had left Poland 
before Simon was born. Konover fulfilled his desire to live a good, 
full and meaningful life. He chased and ultimately found his version of 
the American Dream.
  Konover leaves his wife Doris of 66 years. He is also survived by 
daughter and son-in-law Jane and Robert Coppa, his son and daughter-in-
law Michael and Vicki Konover, and his son Steven Konover. He also 
leaves his four grandchildren Karen Coppa (with her husband Eric 
Kleinman), David Coppa, Kimberle Konover and Gregory Konover (with his 
wife Elise Konover), as well as three great-grandchildren.