[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 15]
[House]
[Page 21443]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             WARREN HELLMAN

  (Ms. PELOSI asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. PELOSI. Mr. Speaker, it is with great sadness that I rise to pay 
tribute to the passing of a man whose legacy to San Francisco is a 
great one. I rise to pay tribute to the life and legacy of Warren 
Hellman, a community leader, a San Francisco legend, and an American 
success story. Sadly, Warren passed away on December 18, surrounded by 
his loving family. That was the way he lived, surrounded by his loving 
family.
  Warren was a tremendously successful businessman. And it was his 
business acumen that allowed him to pursue his true fashion, 
philanthropy. He was a Renaissance man. That's how his daughter 
described him, and that's how we all saw him. With his deep generosity, 
intellectual curiosity, and his visionary dynamism, he changed the face 
of San Francisco. His legacy will live on through his contributions to 
education, to music, to civic life, and to the memory we all happily 
have of him being such a modest athlete, something he took great pride 
in.

                              {time}  1650

  When Warren Hellman saw an opportunity to enrich our city, he acted 
upon it. He strengthened and beautified Golden Gate Park. He worked to 
end homelessness. He supported the San Francisco Free Clinic, many of 
those people availing themselves of the services there being homeless. 
Concerned about dwindling local news coverage in the Internet age, he 
helped form the Bay Citizen online journalism site. Warren served on 
the board of Mills College and the University of California at 
Berkeley's Haas School of Business. He was in a leadership role in 
everything that he did.
  I mentioned that he was an athlete. He endowed aquatic sports at U.C. 
Berkeley, where he had played on the water polo team as a student. 
Whether it was bicycling, swimming, running, skiing, you name it, 
Warren was the best.
  He was a lover of music, a lover of family, and a lover of life. The 
3-day concert he founded--well, it used to be called Strictly 
Bluegrass; but as the program expanded and more entertainers wanted to 
participate and the audience turned out for them in the hundreds of 
thousands, it was changed to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass. So it wasn't 
strictly bluegrass. It is held each year at Golden Gate Park and has 
allowed hundreds of thousands of fans each year to enjoy the music that 
he loved--mostly bluegrass. And it was all free. Warren was involved in 
every aspect of the festival, including personally recruiting musicians 
he admired; and an invitation from Warren was one that was warmly 
responded to by the biggest names in music. It is so fitting that 
Speedway Meadow, the site of the festival, was renamed Hellman Hollow 
just last week. Just last week. So I know this pleased him and his 
family immensely.
  I mentioned his interest in education and the arts. He and his wife, 
Chris, were really such magnificent patrons of the San Francisco 
Ballet. It's hard to match or surpass the contributions they have made 
intellectually and by way of encouragement in every way and certainly 
philanthropically.
  With the passing of Warren Hellman, San Francisco has lost a beloved 
champion. We honor his memory and his enthusiasm by celebrating his 
many contributions. I said that he was good at everything he did; and 
that included being a friend, a friend to so many who will miss him so 
much. I am proud to call Warren a friend; and I hope it is a comfort to 
Chris, his wife, and his family whom he cherished. And he couldn't talk 
enough about them. He was so very proud of them and rightfully so. I 
hope it is a comfort to them that so many people mourn their loss and 
are praying for them at this sad time.
  Tomorrow there will be a public service to honor his life and legacy. 
It will represent an outpouring of people from every aspect of San 
Francisco life, every economic strata, from homeless people to the most 
privileged and successful in terms of their measure of success. But it 
will also represent people in the public and private and nonprofit 
sectors. This was a very special person, and I want everyone who 
follows the work of Congress and the pride that we all take in 
representing our districts and our constituents to know how proud we 
all were of the life and leadership of Warren Hellman.

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