[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Page 7876]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                    IN REMEMBRANCE OF STEPHEN GREEN

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, earlier this week, this country 
suffered a tremendous loss with the passing of Steve Green.
  Steve was a veteran reporter and editorial columnist and a very dear 
person. He worked as a journalist for forty years, covering issues 
ranging from Congress to national security to social policy.
  I got to know Steve as he kept a watchful eye on Congress for the 
Copley News Service and the San Diego Union-Tribune. He had a quick 
wit, a keen intellect and a great nose for a story. Above all, he was 
scrupulously fair in his reporting. And he believed that as a 
journalist it was his role in life to help this country realize its 
tremendous potential. How very blessed we are that Stephen used his 
talent with words and his insight to make us a better, more informed 
people.
  With a wink Steve could puncture the biggest ego. He had the uncanny 
ability to be skeptical without being cynical. He cared for the people 
he covered without coddling them. He followed serious issues without 
losing his sense of humor.
  Let me read from an article filed by Steve's colleague and Copley 
News veteran reporter Findlay Lewis:

       Mr. Green's 40-year newspaper career embraced a range of 
     interests and assignments, including a political column that 
     was syndicated around the country. In recent years, his 
     reporting focused on Congress, national security issues and 
     social welfare policy. His work in these and other areas 
     earned him a reputation as a quick study and an incisive 
     writer, who could quickly penetrate to the heart of complex 
     issues.
       ``Steve Green was a colleague I admired greatly,'' said 
     Herbert G. Klein, editor in chief of Copley Newspapers. ``He 
     thrived on professionalism, which leaves a great legacy for 
     all to follow. He was a man of enormous courage.''
       A native of Malden, Mass., he graduated from Boston's 
     Northeastern University, where he began his newspaper career. 
     While pursuing his undergraduate degree, Mr. Green filed 
     stories for the wire services and several Boston dailies, and 
     also served as editor of the college newspaper.
       Former colleagues at the [Washington] Star describe Mr. 
     Green in those years as a tireless reporter, who never 
     allowed himself to be beaten on a story by rivals from the 
     larger and better-staffed Washington Post.
       ``He had a knack for getting scoops,'' recalled Barbara 
     Cochran, one of his editors at the time and president of the 
     Radio-Television News Directors Association. ``When he had a 
     good story going he would get this grin on his face--when he 
     felt he had the goods.''
       His tenure at the [Washington] Post was followed by an 
     editing stint at the Miami News before arriving at The San 
     Diego Union in 1979 as state and politics editor. In the 
     latter capacity, Mr. Green directed the Union's coverage of 
     the 1980 presidential election and of the state political 
     campaigns two years later.
       In 1983, Mr. Green joined the Union's editorial board 
     before returning to Washington in January 1984 to fill the 
     newly created position of managing editor in the Washington 
     Bureau of the Copley News Service.
       Considered a shrewd student of American politics and 
     foreign affairs by his peers, Mr. Green pursued those 
     interests in a column syndicated by the news service and 
     given frequent prominent display by The Washington Times on 
     its op-ed page.
       By the early 1990s, Mr. Green had returned to reporting, 
     providing coverage of Congress, a beat that he knew well from 
     his duty with Washington newspapers. He wrote in depth about 
     the financing problems likely to confront the nation's social 
     welfare programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, and 
     also played a role in the bureau's coverage of President 
     Clinton's impeachment crisis in the Congress. He later took 
     over the Pentagon beat before falling ill.
       Survivors include his wife, Ginny Durrin of Washington, a 
     film maker; two daughters from his first marriage--Jennifer 
     Green of San Jose, and Alison Green of Arlington, Va.; 
     brother, Edward Green of Rockville, Md.; sister, Judy Schoen 
     of Lawrenceville, N.J.; and a granddaughter also survive him.

  Steve Green was a wonderful man, a wonderful journalist and anyone 
who knew him will miss him deeply.

                          ____________________