Norton Statement on Passing of Jim Oberstar

WASHINGTON, DC – Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ranking Member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's Subcommittee on Highways and Transit, made the following statement on the passing of former Congressman Jim Oberstar.

"The passing of Jim Oberstar, a chairman's chairman, who still had so much to give, is an irreplaceable loss for me personally and for our nation. Jim was a brilliant scholar of the nation's transportation and infrastructure, and a devoted practitioner who spent 36 years contributing to the work of building and rebuilding the nation's transportation systems – its road and bridge networks, and, as a cyclist himself, bike and running trails. Jim's encyclopedic knowledge of the field led him to master the complexities associated with intermodalism, the transportation wave of the future. His work, for example, to make Washington's Union Station truly intermodal, still in progress, will always be emblematic of his visionary leadership. From the moment I joined the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in 1991, I began to learn from Jim Oberstar and felt his warmth, kindness and depth. He not only led, he nurtured us. Whether smiling as he playfully spoke French or offering the benefits of his common-sense knowledge, Jim had the gift of leaving us both admiring him as a person and awed by his knowledge and understanding of our work as a professional. Jim's outstanding work in the Congress led the people of Minnesota to make him the longest serving U.S. House member from their state. He served the nation with special distinction at the same time."

Published: May 5, 2014