[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 14832]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]


   ALLAN P. KIRBY, JR. RECEIVES ``OTHERS'' AWARD FROM SALVATION ARMY

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                         HON. PAUL E. KANJORSKI

                            of pennsylvania

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 24, 2002

  Mr. KANJORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to call the attention of the 
House of Representatives to the well deserved recognition that my good 
friend Mr. Allan P. Kirby, Jr. recently received from the Salvation 
Army of the Greater Wyoming Valley Area.
  Allan received the Salvation Army's ``OTHERS'' Award, which was 
presented in the area for the first time and is given to an individual 
or entity that has contributed substantially to the benefit of others.
  He was presented with the award at the local Salvation Army's First 
Annual Community Recognition Dinner. The dinner's purpose is to raise 
money for the Kirby Family House, which is a transitional housing 
program for homeless people looking to make a better life for 
themselves through a series of classes, self-help groups, literacy 
programs and job training, as well as to establish a camp scholarship 
fund for underprivileged children in the Greater Wyoming Valley area to 
attend the Salvation Army's Camp Ladore.
  Allan is an entrepreneur known nationwide and a well-respected 
philanthropist from the Wilkes-Barre area. He was born in Wilkes-Barre 
and moved at an early age to Morristown, N.J. He graduated from 
Lafayette College, where he was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon 
fraternity. After completing officer's school, he served on active duty 
with the Naval Reserve. He now lives in Mendham, N.J., where he also 
maintains an office.
  Mr. Speaker, Allan's professional and philanthropic endeavors are far 
too numerous to list them all here, but I would like to provide the 
House with an overview.
  He serves as a trustee and treasurer of the Angeline Elizabeth Kirby 
Memorial Health Center in Wilkes-Barre, which has as its mission the 
preservation and promotion of the public health, particularly in 
Wilkes-Barre and neighboring communities, and the control and 
elimination of disease.
  He chairs the A.P. Kirby, Jr. Foundation and the Allan P. Kirby 
Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at Wilkes University. 
For many years, Allan has been a dedicated trustee for Wilkes 
University, where I served with him. He also chairs Wilkes' endowment 
committee. He is also president of Liberty Square, Inc., and a director 
and chairman of the executive committee of the Alleghany Corporation, 
one of the largest holding companies in the United States. Alleghany is 
the largest single stockholder in American Express and owns Chicago 
Title Insurance Company and other title and casualty insurers including 
a large stake in St. Paul Companies.
  He is also the owner of River Ridge Farms in Sussex County, N.J. He 
is the father of five children and 15 grandchildren.
  Allan comes from a long line of Kirbys with impressive 
accomplishments in both their professional and philanthropic endeavors. 
For example, in the 19th century, at age 23, Fred Morgan Kirby 
committed his entire savings of $500 in partnership with Charles Sumner 
Woolworth to purchase a variety store in Wilkes-Barre. Over the years 
the two men developed that modest investment into the enormous F.W. 
Woolworth Company.
  Similarly, the family's commitment to helping others is also long-
standing, as shown by the many organizations and community buildings 
built with Kirby family donations, including those I have already 
mentioned, as well as the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts in 
Wilkes Barre and the Kirby Hall of Civil Rights at Lafayette College in 
Easton, among many others.
  Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to call to the attention of the House of 
Representatives the service to the community of Allan P. Kirby, Jr. and 
this well-deserved award, and I wish him all the best.

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