[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 187 (Tuesday, December 17, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7068-S7069]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 HONORING THE LIFE OF NEBRASKA COMMUNITY LEADER JOHN EDMUND GOTTSCHALK

  Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate 
proceed to consideration of S. Res. 928, which is at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 928) honoring the life of Nebraska 
     community leader John Edmund Gottschalk.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. RICKETTS. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed 
to, that the preamble be agreed to, and that the motions to reconsider 
be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action 
or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 928) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  (The resolution, with its preamble, is printed in today's Record 
under ``Submitted Resolutions.'')
  Mr. RICKETTS. Mr. President, I rise today to honor a great Nebraskan 
and a great American, John Edmund Gottschalk. John Gottschalk was born 
in Omaha in 1943 and grew up in a small town in Nebraska called 
Rushville. He was a Boy Scout, and he went on to attend the University 
of Nebraska, majoring in political science and journalism.
  His father started the Sheridan County Star, and John worked there as 
well, really getting his break into journalism, the newspaper business. 
In 1972, John bought the Sidney Telegraph in Sidney, NE, and became 
mayor of the town of Sidney. In 1975, he joined the Omaha World-Herald 
as an assistant to the president. He eventually worked his way up to 
become the publisher and CEO in 1998, and he remained that until 2009. 
Actually, 1989. I got those numbers flipped around. In 1989, he became 
CEO and publisher.
  John and his wife Carmen were extraordinary people.
  John led the Omaha World-Herald into the digital age and also 
spearheaded a number of the efforts to increase the technology and its 
spread throughout the State of Nebraska, different communities. He made 
the Omaha World-Herald a standard for how newspapers should be run.
  He himself was known for his integrity and his courage. He was never 
shy about being direct with a budding politician to let that politician 
know when he believed that politician might have erred. He was one of 
those people that cared about the community. As I mentioned, he was a 
Boy Scout. He served

[[Page S7069]]

as chairman of our local Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts but also 
became national president of Boy Scouts of America. He served as 
chairman of the Board of Governors of the USO, cared about our veterans 
and wanted to make sure we were serving them, cared about our military 
people. He also cared about the arts and was chairman of Omaha 
Performing Arts.
  He and his wife Carmen cared about people. Together, they fostered 
more than 100 infants awaiting adoption.
  John was an outdoorsman and a conservationist. He really was one of 
those people we would describe as a renaissance man--running a 
fantastic business, giving back to the community. He was the kind of 
American that built this country.
  John passed away last month, leaving a legacy that is having a 
lasting imprint on our community of Omaha, the State of Nebraska, and 
indeed our entire country.
  I greatly admire John Gottschalk for the kind of man he was, the 
example he set for the rest of us. He will be greatly missed, and I 
will miss him greatly.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. (Mr. Hickenlooper).
  The majority whip.

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