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“TRIBUTE TO LESTER S. JAYSON” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Justice was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E71-E72 on Feb. 7, 2000.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO LESTER S. JAYSON
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HON. WILLIAM M. THOMAS
of california
in the house of representatives
Monday, February 7, 2000
Mr. THOMAS. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to the late Lester S. Jayson, who passed away at the age of 84 on December 30, 1999. Lester Jayson served the Congress faithfully for over 15 years, first as a Senior Specialist in American Public Law Division and Chief of the American Law Division of the Congressional Research Service, then as Deputy Director of the Service and finally as the Service's Director from 1966 until his retirement in 1975. Mr. Jayson's distinguished record of public service also included an 18 year career in various capacities with the Department of Justice, including chief of the torts section of the Department's civil division.
Lester Jayson served as CRS Director during the crucial period of the 1970 Legislative Reorganization Act, which transformed CRS from its role as essentially a reference service to an analytical support arm of the Congress. This change was designed to provide Congress with the expertise it needed to effectively perform its legislative role. CRS became a source of objective non-partisan data analysis and information that was, and is, essential to the legislative process. Mr. Jayson's tenure as Director saw a doubling of the staff at CRS and the infusion of high level analytical expertise. His vision and leadership enabled that expertise to be put to use in the service of the Congress. When he retired in 1975, Lester Jayson left a transformed and potent Congressional Research Service. He laid the groundwork for the current infrastructure that provides close analytical support for Members and Committees.
In 1936, Mr. Jayson graduated with honors from the College of the City of New York. After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1939, he went into private practice. His public service began in 1942, when he served as Special Assistant to the U.S. Attorney General and continued through 18 years at the Department of Justice, which he left in 1960 to join CRS. Four years after joining CRS, Mr. Jayson wrote ``Federal Tort Claims: Administrative and Judicial Remedies, considered the preeminent source on federal torts, which he last updated in 1997. In 1964, he also was supervising editor of ``The Constitution of the United States of America: Analysis and Interpretation,'' published by the Government Printing Office.
After retiring from CRS in 1975, Mr. Jayson was a professor of constitutional and American law at Potomac Law School. He continued to stay active in the Federal Bar Association, of which he was a past chairman of the federal tort claims committee. He was also active in the American Bar Association, the Cosmos Club, the Harvard Club of Washington, and American Friends of Wilton Park.
Mr. Speaker, Lester Jayson was a man who was dedicated to public service and service to the United States Congress. This is his legacy, which we honor here today. To his wife Evelyn, his children Diane and Jill, his family, friends, and former colleagues, I extend our deepest sympathies.
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