[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 20]
[Senate]
[Pages 27804-27805]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ADDITIONAL STATEMENTS

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                    HONORING JERRY AND ANITA ZUCKER

 Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to join me in 
honoring the memory of a dedicated public servant and leader, Jerry 
Zucker. I also ask that we pay tribute to Jerry's wife Anita. After a 
lifetime of unprecedented service to his State and Nation as a 
businessman and philanthropist, Mr. Zucker passed away in Charleston, 
SC, on April 12, 2008, at the age of 58. His death was a loss to 
Charleston and the Nation.
  While he will be remembered by most as a successful businessman, I 
will remember him as a larger-than-life figure who donated generously 
and quietly to many causes. Born in Tel-Aviv, Isreal, Mr. Zucker came 
to the United States with his family in 1952. He grew up in Charleston, 
SC, and Jacksonville, FL, and graduated from the University of Florida 
with a triple major in mathematics, chemistry, and physics. He later 
received a masters in electrical engineering from Florida State 
University in Tallahassee, FL. Zucker was a scientist and inventor 
before becoming a businessman. Over his lifetime he had more than 350 
inventions and patents, including his development of the pacemaker.
  In 1983, he founded the InterTech Group, a global conglomerate 
specializing in fabrics and plastics for a range of uses. As founder, 
chairman, and chief executive officer of the company, he helped grow 
the InterTech Group into one of the country's largest privately held 
businesses. Jerry was also CEO of Toronto-based Hudson's Bay Company, 
Canada's largest department store chain. He was the first American 
citizen to lead the company. After his death, Anita took over as 
chairwoman and chief executive officer of Hudson's Bay Company. She 
became the first woman to hold the position in the company's 338-year 
history.
  Jerry is greatly admired for what he did outside of the business 
world. Jerry was a humble philanthropist. He gave millions of dollars 
to a wide range of charities, from his synagogue in Charleston to 
international medical missions. Anyone who reached out to him for help 
never went away with an empty hand. And for every charitable check 
Zucker wrote, he invested numerous behind-the-scene volunteer hours. He 
quietly and unassumingly delivered goodie baskets to holiday 
volunteers, helped the local Boy Scouts of America's Coastal Carolina 
Council, and served as chairman of the South Carolina Aquarium. Because 
of his impact on the Charleston community, North Charleston recently 
dedicated their newest middle school to Zucker's memory, naming it the 
Jerry Zucker Middle School of Science.
  Together with his wife Anita, he is celebrated in South Carolina and 
around the Nation for his philanthropic and community endeavors, as 
well as quiet leadership. His personal mission was ``repairing the 
world,'' which he implied to be a work in progress. I am confident 
Anita will continue this mission. Through Anita and the Zucker Family 
Foundation, through his countless gifts of wisdom, ingenuity, dollars, 
and time, Jerry Zucker will continue to repair the world.
  I ask that the Senate join me in commemorating Mr. Zucker's lifelong 
dedication to the service of our country and to the State of South 
Carolina. The best tribute we can give to Jerry is to continue his 
vision and follow in his humble footsteps.

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