[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 15]
[House]
[Pages 20209-20210]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING BOB DEININGER

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Sestak) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SESTAK. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor a public servant, leader, 
son, husband and father of the first order, Mr. Robert Deininger, who 
on August 1, 2009, will complete 40 years of faithful and dedicated 
service to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the FDA.
  Following his 1965 graduation from Upper Darby High School, Bob 
excelled at Grove City College, Grove City, Pennsylvania, graduating in 
1969 with a bachelor of science degree in biology. He was quickly hired 
by the FDA as an investigator in the Philadelphia district office.
  In 1977 Bob was selected to be a supervisor of the New Jersey 
District in Trenton, New Jersey. He later moved to Camden, New Jersey, 
where he supervised 10 investigators and covered southern New Jersey.

                              {time}  1830

  During 13 years in this position, he and his team were involved in 
many

[[Page 20210]]

unique and interesting cases, including those involving food tampering, 
recalls and compliance actions.
  In 1989, Bob was accepted into a government Executive Potential 
Program. In 1990, he was selected as Director of the Investigations 
Branch for the Dallas district and moved to Dallas, Texas. In this 
position, with nearly 100 employees and 13 satellite offices, he was 
responsible for domestic import inspection activities in Texas, 
Oklahoma and Arkansas.
  Bob's last position was that of District Director, Southwest Import 
District, SWID, in the FDA Office of Regulatory Affairs, FDA's 
regulatory field force. As District Director, Bob was responsible for 
all import operations in the 11-State Southwest Region and along the 
entire United States-Mexican border, from Brownsville, Texas, to San 
Diego, California.
  Bob's contributions are too numerous to mention, but principal among 
them are his efforts to improve import coverage uniformity in applying 
FDA policies and procedures and his work to increase cooperative 
activities with Customs and Border Protection.
  As the Nation has faced serious threats to the safety of its food 
supply, Bob significantly increased the number of import samples and 
product exams performed each year and contributed to updating the FDA 
import training program. Most importantly, Bob focused FDA/SWID 
outreach and education efforts to work with the Federal and State 
agencies on border health to improve the health of the population 
living along the United States and Mexican border.
  For all of his accomplishments in life, Bob Deininger's greatest 
achievement will always be his family. His mother Evelyn and brother 
Gary are very proud of him, as is his wonderful wife Rosemary. 
Together, she and Bob have raised two impressive sons, Kristopher and 
Brian. They are blessed with a lovely daughter-in-law, Katherine, who 
has given them their pride and joy, grandson Jack.
  Mr. Speaker, let us pause and give thanks to Bob Deininger for four 
decades of tireless, selfless service to the Food and Drug 
Administration and the American public.
  Today, I join the good people of the Seventh Congressional District 
of Pennsylvania and the thousands of FDA employees Bob has led, 
mentored and cared for over the course of his brilliant career, and 
Bob's many friends and colleagues, to wish Rosemary and Bob ``fair 
winds and following seas'' as they embark on the next, and no doubt 
even more remarkable, chapter of their lives.

                          ____________________