[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Page 16793]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        IRA YELLIN: IN MEMORIAM

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to Ira 
Yellin, who passed away on September 10. He was only 62 years old.
  My heart goes out to his wife, Adele, to his daughter Jessica and his 
son Seth, to his mother Dorothy and his two brothers, Marc and Albert.
  Ira was a true visionary, a man who championed the restoration of 
downtown Los Angeles long before it was popular.
  His own restoration of the Grand Central Market, an enduring emblem 
of the ethnic diversity that is Los Angeles, is perhaps the greatest of 
his many accomplishments as a real estate developer.
  Yet Ira was involved in so much more than real estate. He was a civic 
and community leader, and served as a past president of the American 
Jewish Committee and a member of the board of the Skirball Cultural 
Center and the J. Paul Getty Trust.
  The son of a Talmudic scholar, an ex-Marine, an urban pioneer, a 
political and social activist, Ira was an optimistic man of boundless 
energy. Not even the lung cancer that he battled so bravely over the 
last year could slow him down.
  Up until the very end of his life he maintained his commitment to his 
work, to his community and, above all, to his loving family, in a way 
which has earned my highest admiration and my deepest affection.
  Ira Yellin was a wonderful man who will be sorely missed, yet both 
his notable achievements and his engaging personality have made a 
lasting impact on all of us. He will not be soon forgotten.

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