[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 110 (Thursday, June 24, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Page S4762]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          TRIBUTE TO BOB GRAY

  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to 
acknowledge the efforts and contributions of a longtime friend and 
advocate for dairy farmers in Vermont and across the country, Bob Gray. 
As he retires later this month, he leaves an enduring imprint on 
Vermont's bedrock agricultural sector.
  I first met Bob in 1978 when he joined the staff of Vermont Senator 
Jim Jeffords, who passed away in 2014. Bob and Jim were an unstoppable 
force, pushing in the late seventies for Federal legislation that 
eventually became the 1981 federal Farmland Protection Policy Act. Bob 
understood the growing urgency of protecting the Nation's working 
landscapes from development, fragmentation, and speculation--and 
especially for rural States like Vermont. He also understood that, so 
long as farmers had a voice and a seat at the table, conservation and 
agriculture could be mutually reinforcing, not adversarial.
  Bob's love for the land and those who steward it comes naturally, 
having been raised on a dairy farm in Cayuga County, NY. After earning 
his bachelor of science degree in animal science at Cornell University, 
he served the Nation as an Army officer in the First Infantry Division 
out of Fort Riley, KS, before joining the New York National Guard and 
serving for 3 more years, rising to the rank of captain.
  Since 1990, Bob has led the Northeast Dairy Farmers Cooperatives, a 
trade association representing dairy farmers in Vermont and the region. 
Throughout the decades of challenging policy discussions and many farm 
bills, I could always count on Bob to provide me with sound counsel, 
always keeping the interests of Vermont's dairy farmers first and 
foremost. That counsel has always been especially important to me 
during challenging years for dairy, like this one has been. Dairy 
farmers across the United States are much stronger than they would now 
be were it not for Bob Gray's work.
  Bob's immeasurable contributions to the dairy industry and our 
decades-long friendship are strong enough that I have welcomed him to 
join me at farm shows and agricultural fairs in New England, despite 
his unmitigated and puzzling cheerleading for the New York Yankees.
  When Bob announced his retirement, I made sure to join his final 
board meeting with the Northeast Dairy Farmers Cooperatives. The 
farmers whom he has worked with and industry leaders who have relied on 
his expertise, including myself, will certainly feel his absence and 
miss his kindness. Beyond his advocacy, Bob has always been a good 
friend to Marcelle and me for so many years--something we will always 
cherish. As he embarks on this next and exciting part of his life, I 
want to acknowledge Bob's work and thank him for his decades of support 
for Vermont's dairy farmers and the U.S. dairy industry and wish him 
the best of luck.

                          ____________________