[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 8 (Thursday, January 12, 2017)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E58]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING THE LIFE AND SERVICE OF VICTOR CORSIGLIA, JR.

                                  _____
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Thursday, January 12, 2017

  Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, a mere 62 years ago young Victor Corsiglia 
Jr. proudly graduated from Stanford Medical School and, in 1956, began 
a lifetime of practicing medicine. This month, his long practice is 
ending in retirement.
  Vic and his wife, Joan, a registered nurse, first served their 
country when Vic served as a doctor for the Marines at Camp Pendleton 
right after graduation. In 1961, they made their way back home to San 
Jose.
  Vic and Joan have never been the kind of people who expect others to 
do the work. They made immense contributions to our local arts world. 
Vic volunteered for the San Jose Arts Commission, served as a board 
member for the San Jose Symphony and, along with Ken Wiener and Barbara 
Day Turner, founded the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. While serving on 
the San Jose Arts Commission, Vic brought together Jim Reber and Clay 
Feldman, who founded the San Jose Repertory Theatre. Joan was also 
active with the San Jose Symphony and was instrumental in restoring its 
auxiliary. It is not an exaggeration to say that absent the many 
contributions of Joan and Vic Corsiglia, the artistic life of our 
community would have been much poorer.
  Joan and Vic also took a great interest in the overall health of the 
community. Vic served on the Santa Clara County Mental Health Board for 
many years. Joan, as a neighborhood activist, but also as a nurse who 
understood the need for effective care, worked for decent care for the 
mentally ill in group homes.
  Joan Corsiglia, with Vic by her side, helped found the Campus 
Community Association (CCA), one of the first active neighborhood 
associations in the city of San Jose. CCA grew to become an effective 
grassroots organization in the Naglee Park neighborhood, protecting the 
quality of life in this downtown neighborhood. The CCA founded the 
Naglee Park Fourth of July Parade. Before the parade begins, there is a 
traditional Coyote Creek Run, first initiated by Vic and Mike McDonald. 
Joan's civic engagement also included chairing the SJSU Campus-
Community Task Force in the 1970s, and working on various local 
political campaigns, including the election of San Jose's first female 
mayor, Janet Gray Hayes. Joan served as an aide for Mayor Hayes and 
later for Mayor Susan Hammer.
  Vic and Joan also made an invaluable contribution to local parks 
when, along with David Pandori and Kathy Muller, Joan helped create the 
Guadalupe River Park Gardens.
  Vic and Joan raised four children in the Naglee Park neighborhood, 
and all four grew up to follow their parents into careers in the 
medical professions.
  What a mark Vic Corsiglia has made as a member of the medical 
profession. As a leader of the San Jose Medical Group, he ensured that 
institutions dedicated to patient well-being would exist and flourish 
even after his retirement.
  As a practicing physician, Vic has been a model of what a doctor 
should be. Modern insurance schemes don't always compensate the 
internal medicine physician when a patient is hospitalized. But that 
never stopped Vic from always attending to any patient who was 
hospitalized. Vic was always on duty to his patients and cared about 
them as human beings.
  Vic Corsiglia has been a doctor who is really obsessive about keeping 
up with the latest in medicine and he's also a physician who takes the 
time to thoroughly explore every patient's symptoms, to understand just 
what is going on with a patient. That may be why Vic Corsiglia is known 
to have an almost uncanny ability to diagnose ailments, even obscure 
ones, among his patients. If you don't know what's wrong with you, but 
you know something is wrong, Vic is the man to see.
  In the 56 years he has practiced medicine at the San Jose Medical 
Clinic, he has saved countless lives and has engendered the gratitude 
and trust of thousands of patients.
  One of them is me. I am grateful that in December of 1980 Vic saved 
my life just as I am grateful that he has helped heal me and my family 
so many times over the years. To say we will miss him as a physician 
does not really capture the sense of loss all of his patients feel. 
However, I count myself among the lucky because although Vic Corsiglia 
is retiring from the practice of medicine, he is not retiring from 
being my neighbor and my friend. I know that Vic and Joan Corsiglia 
will have many new ventures and adventures before them and I hope to 
share some of them.
  Please join me in recognizing Vic and Joan for their decades of 
service to our community.

                          ____________________