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“TRIBUTE TO J. RICHARD (DICK) SEWELL” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Commerce was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E2105-E2106 on Nov. 2, 1995.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
TRIBUTE TO J. RICHARD (DICK) SEWELL
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HON. E. CLAY SHAW, JR.
of florida
in the house of representatives
Thursday, November 2, 1995
Mr. SHAW. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to a great Floridian and dear friend who recently passed away. J. Richard ``Dick'' Sewell, a former congressional aide and retired Washington representative for Florida Power & Light Co., died October 26 in a Washington hospital. He had lung cancer.
A native of Orlando, Dick was well known and loved in Washington and Florida. He moved to Washington in 1963 to become administrative assistant to Congressman Charles Bennett, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee and chairman of the first House Ethics Committee. In 1966, he served as staff coordinator for the ad hoc ethics committee and helped Bennett draft legislation which resulted in a permanent House Ethics Committee. He was a former president of the Burro Club, an organization of Democratic congressional aides. In that capacity, he hosted a 1967 visit to Capitol Hill by President Lyndon Johnson and members of his Cabinet. President Johnson, himself a former Burro Club president, reminisced to the membership at length about his own experiences as a congressional assistant in the early 1930's.
Dick left Bennett's staff in 1971 to become director of public affairs for the National Association of Food Chains. In 1972, he assisted Senator Henry M. Jackson (D-WA) in his campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination, serving as the campaign's executive director in Florida. He became director of Federal Government affairs for Florida Power & Light Co. in 1973 and was the utility's chief Washington representative until his retirement, due to illness, in 1994. He was highly effective in energy, environment, and tax issues pending before Congress and Federal agencies, and was the author of numerous published articles on those subjects.
In 1986-87, he directed FPL's campaign to establish a national award to recognize quality performance by American corporations. Partly through those efforts, Congress in 1987 enacted the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Improvement Act, under which companies compete for the Malcolm Baldridge Award. Named for the former Commerce Secretary, the awards are given annually by the Department of Commerce to corporations of all sizes in various categories.
Dick was a past president of the Washington Business-Government Relations Council and the Washington Representatives Research Group. He served on the board of directors of the Public Affairs Council and as a charter member of the board of governors and treasurer of the Bryce Harlow Foundation. His club memberships included the Congressional Country Club, Metropolitan Club, National Press Club, Burning Tree Club, National Democratic Club, Capitol Hill Club, and the Jefferson Islands Club.
After graduating from public high school in Orlando, he studied journalism at the University of Florida and received his degree in 1959. From 1957 to 1959, he was sports editor of the Orlando Evening Star. After college, the joined the sports staff of the Atlanta Constitution. He later moved to Jacksonville, FL, where he opened his own public relations and advertising agency.
A lifelong loyal Floridian, he was a former president of the Florida State Society in Washington and the Washington Chapter of the University of Florida Alumni Club. He received the University's Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1979.
Dick was an avid golfer and sports fan.
His survivors include his wife, Margaret ``Peggy'' Sewell, and their two children, Jane and Michael Sewell, all of Washington; his mother Bertie Sewell of Orlando; and a brother, Walter Sewell, also of Orlando.
All of us from Florida will miss Dick, a great American, a great friend.
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