    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (2000, Book I)]
    [January 10, 2000]
    [Page 24]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 24]]

    Statement on the Death of Marsha Pyle Martin
    January 10, 2000

        Hillary and I were saddened to learn of the untimely death of Marsha
    Pyle Martin, the Chairman and CEO of the Farm Credit Administration.
        Marsha Martin was a lifelong advocate for farmers, ranchers, and
    rural America. She worked for more than 30 years in agriculture and
    agricultural finance. As vice president of the Farm Credit Bank of
    Texas, she was the first woman senior executive in the Farm Credit
    System. She was also the first woman to serve as a director of the Farm
    Credit System Insurance Corporation. And I was proud to appoint her as
    the first woman head of the Farm Credit Administration in 1994.
        We will remember Marsha as a pathbreaker, as someone who truly cared
    about America's rural communities and who sought not to hide from change
    but to make change work for ordinary Americans. We pay tribute to her
    achievements at the Farm Credit Administration. We send our thoughts and
    prayers to her family, for whom she cared so much.