[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 73 (Friday, May 3, 2019)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E535-E536]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         HONORING ORANGE COUNTY POLITICAL LEGEND FRANK BARBARO

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. J. LUIS CORREA

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 3, 2019

  Mr. CORREA. Madam Speaker, I would like to honor Frank Barbaro, of 
Orange County, a prominent attorney, humanitarian and a political 
legend. Mr. Barbaro passed away on April 15th.
  Born in Detroit, Michigan of Italian-English-Irish parents and raised 
by his mother and grandmother, the family, arrived in Orange County in 
1954, exactly 65 years ago, settling in the City of Garden Grove.
  After attending Garden Grove High School, Mr. Barbaro attended the 
University of Southern California and graduated Magna Cum Laude with 
his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in June of 1965. In June of 
1965, Mr. Barbaro was accepted to law school at the University of 
Southern California and graduated in 1968. During law school, Mr. 
Barbaro was awarded the Warner Trust Grant, he was a Bauer Fellow and 
received the Legion Lex Scholarship.
  During college Mr. Barbaro worked as a lifeguard at the Disneyland 
Hotel and the Balboa Bay Club and later worked as ``Fearless Frank'' on 
the Disneyland Jungle Cruise as a skipper/narrator. Mr. Barbaro was 
Walt Disney's favorite jungle cruise narrator and allowed him to escort 
John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger and many other celebrities 
through the Jungle Cruise.
  In 1977, Mr. Barbaro was one of the founding partners of Horton, 
Barbaro & Reilly and practiced as a partner until its dissolution in 
2005. Mr. Barbaro has practiced in all areas of civil litigation. Mr. 
Barbaro has been involved in many high-profile cases including 
representing the 23,000 investors in Lincoln Savings against Charles 
Keating and victims of the MGM Grand Hotel Fire in Las Vegas.
  Taking over from Richard J. O'Neill, Mr. Barbaro initially chaired 
the Democratic Party in 1977-78 at the ripe old age of 34. During these 
two years Mr. Barbaro ran a registration campaign for voters that 
resulted in a Democratic majority in Orange County for the only time in 
modern history. Mr. Barbaro was also responsible for the creation of 
the Democratic Foundation of Orange County.
  Mr. Barbaro has served in many positions with the Democratic Party of 
Orange County or the Democratic Foundation of Orange County. He 
returned to the role of Chairman of the DPOC from 2003 until 2013, 
becoming the longest serving chair in the DPOC's history. During that 
time, Mr. Barbaro invested his own money to bring in a professional 
staff and set the foundation that would lead to the Orange County 
``Blue Wave'' of 2018.
  Mr. Barbaro was named chair to the Orange County campaigns of many 
prominent elected officials, including President Barack Obama,

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President Jimmy Carter, Governor Jerry Brown, Senator Edward Kennedy, 
Senator John Kerry, and Secretary Hillary Clinton.
  Mr. Barbaro's proudest accomplishment are his two sons, Brett and 
Casey. His oldest, Brett, graduated from Harvard in biochemistry is 
working at Scripps in La Jolla mapping atoms and cells in a worldwide 
network to find a cure for devastating diseases. His youngest son, 
Casey, graduated from Stanford, attended Albert Einstein School of 
Medicine, graduating Alpha Omega Alpha, and is now a lead trauma 
surgeon at Ventura County Hospital.
  Frank Barbaro is truly a legend in the history of Orange County and I 
am proud to honor my good friend, Frank Barbaro, a giant among men.

                          ____________________