[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 18] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages 25730-25731] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]TRIBUTE TO AMBASSADOR E. WILLIAM CROTTY ______ HON. CARRIE P. MEEK of florida in the house of representatives Monday, October 18, 1999 Mrs. MEEK of Florida. Mr. Speaker, it is with great honor that I rise to pay tribute to one of our Nation's exceptional diplomats, E. William Crotty, Ambassador to Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines. This able facilitator of American diplomacy passed on Sunday, October 10, 1999. He is survived by his loving wife, Valerie Kushner, and several outstanding children. Ambassador Crotty was nominated by President William Clinton on April 28, 1998. Prior to this appointment, Ambassador Crotty was an attorney in Daytona Beach, FL. Ambassador Crotty served as a senior managing partner of one of the top law firms in the United States, where he was recognized as a leading lawyer in his area of practice, which included corporate and business transactions, banking and finance law, and taxation and real estate law. Ambassador Crotty served appointments to at least 11 different commissions, including the Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad by President Clinton in 1996 and the Judicial Foundation Board by Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell in 1989. He was quite active in the Democratic Party, serving on the National Finance Board of the Clinton-Gore Campaign, as a Democratic National Party Trustee, and as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Democratic National Committee Board of Directors from 1984 to 1988. Ambassador Crotty was quite active in civil affairs, serving as chairman or member of the board of directors for numerous charitable and educational organizations, including the United Way of Volusia County, the Embry-Riddle [[Page 25731]] Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, the Father Lopez High School Board, and the Volusia County Easter Seals. His indefatigable civic service earned him the title of Outstanding Citizen of the Year and Young Man of the Year from the Daytona Beach Chamber of Commerce. Born in Claremont, NH, Ambassador Crotty exemplified leadership at an early age. He was an exceptional high school student at Bellows Falls High School in Vermont where he was a three-time state champion in tennis and graduated salutatorian of his high school class. Ambassador Crotty graduated from Dartmouth College, where he again excelled in athletics, making captain of his tennis team while also playing varsity squash and basketball. Ambassador Crotty received his law degree from the University of Michigan and obtained a master of law in taxation from New York University Law School. The people of the United States, as well as the people of Barbados, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines will miss my friend--a great American and personal representative of the President of the United States. ____________________