[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4092]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE TO THE HONORABLE WILLIAM McCLAIN AS A GREAT LIVING CINCINNATIAN

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                            HON. ROB PORTMAN

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 12, 2003

  Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to honor William McClain, a 
retired judge and former Cincinnati solicitor, who will be formally 
honored on February 26, 2003 by the Greater Cincinnati Chamber of 
Commerce as a Great Living Cincinnatian. The recipients of this 
prestigious award are selected on the basis of special professional 
achievement; an awareness of the needs of others; civic service; 
leadership; and distinctive accomplishments.
  In 1937, Judge McClain arrived in Cincinnati. A product of Wittenberg 
University and the University of Michigan Law School, he had 
determination and the good fortune to practice law with the late 
Theodore Berry. Among the great many firsts he established for African 
Americans in Cincinnati, Judge McClain became Cincinnati's first 
African American assistant solicitor (1942); member of the Cincinnati 
Bar Association (1950); city solicitor (1963); and Hamilton County 
Common Pleas Judge (1975). He also served as Hamilton County Municipal 
Court Judge (1977); Hamilton County Municipal Court trial referee 
(1979). He has taught at the University of Cincinnati College of Law 
and Salmon P. Chase College of Law. Even today, at age 89, Judge 
McClain spends time at his office in a major downtown Cincinnati law 
firm.
  The numerous awards he has received include: the Ellis Island Gold 
Medal of Honor for contributions to culture, diversity and the American 
way of life; the Race Relations Award from the Ohio Dr. Martin Luther 
King Jr. Holiday Commission; the National Bar Association Hall of Fame; 
and a certificate of honor from the NAACP board for outstanding civic 
contributions to Cincinnati in race relations.
  Judge McClain is married to Roberta White McClain, a retired 
supervisor for the Hamilton County Welfare Department.
  All of us in Cincinnati thank Judge McClain for his service to our 
community, and congratulate him for being named a Great Living 
Cincinnatian.

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