[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 767]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



 HONORING JOSEPH ``JERRY'' PATCHAN UPON HIS RETIREMENT AS DIRECTOR OF 
                 THE EXECUTIVE OFFICE FOR U.S. TRUSTEES

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. GEORGE W. GEKAS

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Monday, February 7, 2000

  Mr. GEKAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my distinguished 
colleague, Jerrold Nadler, the ranking minority member of the 
Subcommittee on Commercial and Administrative Law of the Committee on 
the Judiciary, in expressing our many good wishes on the occasion of 
Joseph ``Jerry'' Patchan's retirement on February 11, 2000 as director 
of the Executive Office for U.S. Trustees.
  Jerry Patchan's 45 years of service in the public and private sectors 
is truly commendable. Highlights of his distinguished career include 
his service as an officer in the U.S. Navy during the Second World War. 
During that service, he participated in the D-day invasion at Normandy 
and saw action in the Pacific theater. In 1969, he was appointed as a 
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge for the Northern District of Ohio and served on 
the bench for more than 6 years. Thereafter, he served on the Advisory 
Committee on Bankruptcy Rules of the Judicial Conference of the United 
States from 1978 to 1991. Later, Jerry became deputy general counsel of 
the Resolution Trust Corporation, where he helped resolve complex 
matters involving hundreds of millions of dollars arising out of our 
Nation's savings and loan crisis.
  In 1994, Jerry assumed the leadership of the Executive Office for 
U.S. Trustees, a component of the Justice Department that supervises 
the administration of bankruptcy cases nationwide. As a result of his 
guidance and leadership, the U.S. Trustee Program has revitalized its 
mission and has undertaken innovative solutions to the many challenges 
presented by administering literally millions of bankruptcy cases. He 
has shared his wise counsel on bankruptcy matters with our subcommittee 
on numerous occasions, for which we are most appreciative.
  In addition to his many work-related responsibilities, Jerry taught 
bankruptcy law in Ohio, was a member of the faculty of the National 
Bankruptcy Seminar at the Federal Judicial Center, and has frequently 
lectured at bankruptcy law seminars around the country. He authored the 
Practice Comments to Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure from 1973 to 1991 
and published numerous articles on bankruptcy law. Most recently, he 
was named one of the 50 most influential people in credit by Credit 
Today, an industry newsletter.
  Jerry is a Fellow of the American College of Bankruptcy and a member 
of the Ohio and the District of Columbia Bar Associations. He has 
chaired the Cleveland Bar Association's Bankruptcy and Commercial Law 
section from 1984 through 1986. He also is a member of the National 
Conference of Bankruptcy Judges, the American Judicature Society, and 
the American Bankruptcy Institute.
  We take this opportunity to acknowledge Jerry Patchan's lifelong 
contributions as a public servant, an attorney, trustee, jurist 
academic and writer. We ask our colleagues to do the same.

                          ____________________