[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 27298]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   TRIBUTE TO DR. ROBERT C. PROPHATER

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. JAMES A. BARCIA

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 15, 2000

  Mr. BARCIA. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to urge my colleagues to join 
me in honoring the life and work of Dr. Robert C. Prophater following 
his half-century service to his fellow man, as a physician, a leader 
and as a father. During his fifty year career, Dr. Prophater worked to 
improve the health and well-being of his community both as a doctor and 
as Vice President of Corporate Medical Affairs for Bay Health Systems 
in his home town of Bay City, Michigan.
  For more than five decades, Dr. Prophater has applied his healing 
hands to the medical needs of those under his care. His dedication and 
devotion to the precepts of the Hippocratic oath serve as a model for 
younger physicians and those considering entering this honorable 
profession. Indeed, one has to look no farther than Dr. Prophater's 
family to find an example of his influence in drawing others to the 
medical profession. His son, Dr. Robert C. Prophater Jr., has followed 
in his footsteps and is also practicing medicine and saving lives.
  During his long and venerable career, Dr. Prophater has taken 
seriously his duty to share his vast knowledge and experience with his 
colleagues as an active member of numerous medical boards and medical 
associations throughout the state of Michigan and the entire Midwest. 
Of all of these honors, perhaps closest to his heart was his tenure on 
the Board of Directors of the Bay Medical Center in his home town of 
Bay City, including a four year term as Board President.
  While Dr. Prophater above all deserves our praise for his dedication 
to medicine, he has also made a tremendously positive impact on Bay 
City, where he has lived and worked since moving from Ohio in 1958. His 
civic involvement epitomizes the spirit of public service to which all 
citizens should aspire, but few ever achieve. During his time serving 
Bay City, Dr. Prophater volunteered his talents and intellect to the 
Bay Area Chamber of Commerce, the local advisory board for a 
professional football league, to the board of a local college and a 
host of other activities. In the classic American civic tradition, he 
also served his community in the political arena, including a stint as 
President of the Bay City Commission. His accolades are many, including 
the Michigan State Medical Society Community Service Award and 
induction into the Saginaw Valley Chapter of Commerce Hall of Fame in 
1989.
  Mr. Speaker, I earnestly hope my colleagues will join me today in 
publicly honoring Dr. Robert C. Prophater with the official gratitude 
of the United States House of Representatives for a lifetime of 
contributions to the health and welfare of his community, his state and 
his family.

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