[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 22036]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       HONORING DR. ROBERT LIPSON

  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to speak out of 
turn for 5 minutes.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Without objection, the gentleman from 
Georgia is recognized for 5 minutes.
  There was no objection.
  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to honor a great man who led a 
purpose-driven life that touched many in my State of Georgia and around 
the country. Unfortunately, he lost his life Friday afternoon in 
Marietta, Georgia, riding home from work at Kennestone Hospital on his 
motorcycle, just a mile and a half from his home.
  Dr. Robert Lipson, the chief executive officer and president of 
Wellstar Health System, was a man of honor and genuine character. For 5 
years, he has boldly led Wellstar, a renowned health system of five 
hospitals in northwest Georgia. Under his leadership, the Wellstar 
Kennestone Hospital recently gained an open heart surgery program and 
an expanded 84-bed patient care tower. Moreover, he has worked to 
attract world-class physicians to the entire five-hospital system.
  Before moving to Atlanta, Dr. Lipson obtained his medical degree from 
Tulane University, and then he served his country for 2 years in the 
United States Army. When he moved to Cobb County, he began his 25 years 
of practicing internal medicine at Kennestone Hospital, and it was my 
good fortune to meet him then, and we became close friends and 
colleagues, often caring for each other's patients.
  When Dr. Lipson saw the great need for primary care physicians in his 
community, he decided to leave his lucrative practice and put together 
the Wellstar team. There, he helped build the Wellstar Physicians 
Group, which currently is comprised of 250 physicians who are 
responsible for nearly a million annual patient visits in Northwest 
Georgia.
  Mr. Speaker, Dr. Lipson will also be remembered as a prolific 
philanthropist. He was known for his generous spirit, always willing to 
support charities that needed his help. And due to the financial 
success of the system he led, he was able to give back compassionately 
to the community.
  Dr. Lipson was also an esteemed amateur photographer, with his art 
being most recently displayed at Kennesaw State University in Cobb 
County. And admirers of his work describe the photographs as, and I 
quote, ``awe inspiring,'' and him as a remarkable talent.
  Mr. Speaker, I cannot say enough about this fine man, a man who did 
more in his too-short 60 years than many can aspire to in a much longer 
lifetime. Dr. Lipson is survived by his gracious wife, Livvy; his 
daughter, Dr. Rachel Lipson, who is a practicing neonatologist in 
Boston; and his son, Aaron, who specializes in health care law. His 
family meant so much to him, and I want to offer my sincere condolences 
to them during this time of their profound loss of a loving husband, a 
devoted father and devoted grandfather.

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