[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 22]
[Senate]
[Pages 29934-29935]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TRIBUTE TO PAUL UNGER

 Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to a remarkable 
Ohioan--a man of great vision and great compassion. Paul Unger is the 
founder of the Unger Croatia Institute for Public Administration, an 
organization that provides professional training, education, and 
technical assistance to Croatian Government administrators and 
university officials. On January 23, 2004, he will receive the 
Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award from the U.S. Agency for 
International Development for his tireless dedication to fostering 
democracy and freedom in Croatia.
  Paul Unger, a fellow Ohioan who is a native of Cleveland, first 
arrived in Zagreb for a Christmas party one wintry December night in 
1945. He was en route from his post as commandant of

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a United Nations refugee camp for Croatians in Egypt to his new 
assignment as administrator for the United Nations relief program in 
Yugoslavia. That evening, he met Sonja Franz, a Croatian architect-
engineer, who became his wife by the next holiday season. Soon after 
they married, the Ungers left Croatia for the United States.
  As the decades passed, the Ungers kept close contact with their 
family, friends, and colleagues who had remained overseas, committed to 
a free, democratic Croatia. In 1997, Paul Unger assembled an advisory 
group of 45 American and Croatian banking, education, and government 
leaders to found the Unger Croatia Institute for Public Administration 
to help reform-minded leaders ease Croatia's transition from the 
devastating war to a more efficient, democratic government.
  As a first step, Mr. Unger created a fellowship program to assist 
senior Croatian officials in the development of improved practices in 
government. This program was to be administered by his alma mater, 
Harvard University. The Unger Croatia Program was created within the 
John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the Institute Advisory Group 
was charged with nominating and selecting candidates. Between 1998-
2001, the Ungers personally sponsored 22 Fellows at the Kennedy School, 
including deputy prime ministers, cabinet ministers and deputies, 
national bank governors, parliamentary committee chairs, ambassadors, 
and a Presidential candidate.
  To build a program that could provide similar services for locally 
elected officials, Mr. Unger turned to the Maxine Goodman Levin College 
of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, CSU. In 2001, the Unger 
Croatia Center for Local Government Leadership was established within 
CSU's Levin College.
  The success of the Cleveland seminars inspired Mr. Unger to create an 
educational alliance between CSU and the University of Rijeka, which 
was formalized in 2002. This collaboration continues to blossom. Over 
the past 2 years, the Unger Croatia Center at CSU has worked closely 
with the Economics faculty in Rijeka to develop their professional 
courses. Last summer, the University of Rijeka hosted the first seminar 
for public officials in Croatia, and this spring, the University will 
introduce its first programs in public administration and public health 
administration--an important step toward the eventual realization of 
the first-ever Croatian Graduate School of Public Administration.
  As Mr. Unger continues to work toward a vision for a prosperous 
Croatia, government is being transformed. Program participants have 
returned home and implemented the techniques learned through their 
studies, creating an environment where Croatians have become 
increasingly involved in local government and have taken an active role 
in setting budget priorities and guiding community development.
  Beyond his extraordinary efforts abroad, Mr. Unger also has 
contributed much to our home State of Ohio. It is here that he and 
Sonja raised a family and achieved prominence through a successful 
business, volunteer service, and community activism. Among his many 
accomplishments, Mr. Unger served as president/CEO of the Unger 
Company, a national food packaging company headquartered in Cleveland; 
chairman of the Urban Renewal Task Force for the Mayor of Cleveland; 
president of the Cleveland chapter of the American Civil Liberties 
Union; and chairman of the Ohio's International Trade Council. He has 
been widely-recognized, notably by the Cleveland Heights High School 
Hall of Fame, the Cleveland Blue Book, and the City Club of Cleveland 
Hall of Fame.
  Finally, Paul Unger has remained steadfast in moving Cleveland into 
the international arena. He has helped lead the Cleveland-Miskole 
Sister City Committee and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs. He 
also has sponsored the ``Cleveland in the World'' lecture series at the 
City Club of Cleveland. Sonja has been a local civic and political 
leader in her own right and was the first woman to be honored with a 
Golden Door Award by Cleveland's Nationality Services Center for her 
dedication as a social worker and interpreter.
  In January 2004, the USAID's Bureau for Europe and Eurasia will honor 
Paul Unger with the Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award, which 
recognizes Americans who have made exceptional contributions to 
international development through volunteerism. I congratulate Mr. 
Unger for all his work at home and abroad and express my thanks to him 
and to his wife Sonja for their leadership, dedication, and commitment 
to democracy in Croatia.

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