[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4621]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                  RECOGNIZING THE LIFE OF TONY CORTESE

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ZOE LOFGREN

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, February 16, 2007

  Ms. ZOE LOFGREN of California. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor and 
recognize the life of Tony Cortese, United States Postal Service 
Employee and President of the National Association of Letter Carriers 
Local 193.
  In his forty-two years as a proud and honorable employee of the 
United States Postal Service and twenty-seven years as the president of 
the National Association of Letter Carriers Local 193, NALC, Tony 
Cortese made a significant impact on the rights of Letter Carriers and 
on the well-being of his community.
  Mr. Cortese was a fifty-five-year resident of San Jose, California 
and was a tireless advocate for Letter Carriers. As President of the 
NALC Local 193 for nearly thirty years, Mr. Cortese procured a union 
owned building for the members, secured expanded health benefits, and 
provided an open forum for discussion for union members and Federal, 
State, and local politicians.
  Mr. Cortese's service was not just limited to advocacy for the rights 
of the union members, but extended into the San Jose community and 
beyond. Under Mr. Cortese's leadership, San Jose served as a pilot for 
what would become a national food drive sponsored by the NALC the first 
Saturday before Mother's Day. In fact, this national program, which 
began in 1991 and continues today, is the result of Mr. Cortese's own 
food drive initiative in 1990. This is but one example by which Mr. 
Cortese's unassuming, generous, and selfless manner made significant 
and positive changes in the lives of a countless number of people.
  Along with my Santa Clara County colleagues, Congressman Honda and 
Congresswoman Eshoo, and my constituents in San Jose, I am honored to 
pay tribute to Tony Cortese.
  We thank his family for supporting his work over many years and for 
being the source of tremendous pride for him, his wife Barbara, his 
daughter Caroline and son-in-law Don Bauldry, his sister Mary and 
brother-in-law Vince Catalano, and his grandchildren Austin and Ashley. 
Our thoughts are with you during your grief, and we are honored with 
the years of service Mr. Cortese gave to both the NALC and the United 
States Postal Service as well as the residents of San Jose, California 
and the State of California. He will be dearly missed.

                          ____________________