[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 1] [Extensions of Remarks] [Page 1172] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]REMEMBERING CALVIN WILLIAM VERITY, JR. ______ HON. JOE WILSON of south carolina in the house of representatives Friday, January 12, 2007 Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Madam Speaker, former Secretary of Commerce Calvin William Verity Jr., 89, of Beaufort, South Carolina, died Wednesday, January 3, 2007, at the Beaufort Memorial Hospital. He was born January 26, 1917, in Middletown, Ohio, the son of Calvin William Verity, Sr. and Elizabeth (O'Brien) Verity. Secretary Verity was a graduate of the Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University. He served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1942- 1946. Mr. Verity worked for Armco Steel from 1946 until his retirement in 1982 as CEO and Chairman of the Board. He was named Secretary of Commerce by President Ronald Reagan in 1987 and served two years in that position. During the 1970s and 80s he served as Chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and as Chairman of the U.S.-Soviet Trade and Economic Council. He was also the Chairman of the Presidents Task force on Private Sector Initiatives under President Reagan. Secretary Verity is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Peggy ``Happy'' Verity Power and J.P. Power of Edwards, Colorado; two sons and daughters-in-law, Jonathan George Verity and Victoria Verity of Beaufort, South Carolina, and William Wymond Verity and Paula Verity of Beaufort, South Carolina; seven grandchildren, William Verity Power (Kate), Jonathan Warfield Power (Jody), Jonathan Edward Verity, Victoria Heye Verity Nellen (Bill), Elizabeth Wymond Verity, George Murray Verity, and Hannah Bakewell Verity; four great grandchildren, James Matthew Power, John Gray Power, Thomas George Power, and Brooks Verity Power; and two sisters, Betsy Verity Blakey of Columbus, Ohio and Jean Verity Woodhull of Dayton, Ohio. On January 5, Sandra Walsh of the Beaufort Gazette penned the below tribute to Mr. Verity: Former Secretary of Commerce Dies in Beaufort Serving as President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Commerce, Calvin William Verity Jr., shared the stage with political giants. But in Beaufort, where Verity shared his Spanish Point home with his beloved wife, he is remembered by friends as a `giant of a man.' Verity died Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2007, in Beaufort Memorial Hospital. He was 89. Verity, who suffered from asthma, had been hospitalized for four days and died from complications of pneumonia, his oldest son John Verity said Thursday. ``I think the key to his success over the years was his ability to work with people,'' John Verity said. ``His leadership was based on building consensus and creating an environment where people would work together.'' Verity was sworn in as President Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Commerce Oct. 19, 1987, after secretary Malcolm Baldrige was killed in a rodeo accident. He served until the end of Reagan's term in January 1989. As U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Verity established the Malcolm Baldrige Award, which ``in the 1990s helped businesses improve the quality of their work,'' John Verity said. He then retired and moved to Beaufort's Spanish Point neighborhood in the early '90s with his wife, Peggy, who died in 1999. ``He was a giant of a man,'' Verity's next door neighbor and friend of 21 years, Guy McSweeney, said Thursday. ``He was one of the most remarkable men I have ever known; everyone that knew him loved him.'' Between 1970 and the 1980s, Verity served as chairman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and as chairman of the U.S.- Soviet Trade and Economic Council. Reagan also appointed him as the chairman of the President's Task Force on Private Sector Initiatives. Verity worked for Armco Steel from 1946 until he retired in 1982 as chairman of the board of the company now known as AK Steel Corp. He is the grandson of George M. Verity, who founded the firm. Verity was a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1946. McSweeney said Verity maintained a lifelong interest in the Navy. About 10 years ago, McSweeney said he and Verity rode aboard what was originally a Soviet training ship, the Druzhba, from the Bahamas to Maryland alongside 200 U.S. Navy and Russian cadets. ``He was always coming up with something fun to do,'' McSweeney said. ``From duck hunting or riding on a jet to California, he was always into something.'' Neighbor Polly Swenson recalled a time when former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor visited Verity at his Spanish Point home and caught a speckled bass from his dock. Swenson said even in his later years, when Verity used a motorized scooter, he would sit on a bluff behind his home nearly every day and look out to the water. ``He would always say, `Isn't this the most beautiful place on Earth?' Swenson said. ``Beaufort was very much a part of him.'' Verity and his wife played active roles in Beaufort's community and were responsible for raising money for several organizations, including a Verity scholarship fund through the Technical College of the Lowcountry and an education fund for the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Lowcountry. ``He just loved people,'' longtime friend Helen Harvey said. ``He loved to help people; he did so much for so many people through his connections.'' St. Helena Island resident and freelance editor Cheryl Lopanik helped Verity organize information for his biography, ``59 Years with the Right Woman,'' a recollection of Verity's life with a focus on his wife, self-published in 2003. ``He was devastated in losing her, but he wanted to put this book together because he knew it would have made her happy,'' Lopanik said. ``He had wonderful stories and memories that were very exact . . . He had a very good perspective on his life.'' Verity was born Jan. 26, 1917, in Middletown, Ohio, a son of Elizabeth O'Brien and Calvin William Verity Sr. He was a graduate of the Phillips Exeter Academy and Yale University. Verity was a member of the boards of directors of Mead Corp., Chase Manhattan Bank, Eli Lilly, Taft Broadcasting, the First National Bank in Middletown and The Chairman of the Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. Survivors include a daughter, Peggy ``Happy'' Verity Power of Edwards, Colo.; two sons, Jonathan George Verity and William Wymond Verity of Beaufort; two sisters, Betsy Verity Blakey of Columbus, Ohio, and Jean Verity Woodhull of Dayton, Ohio; seven grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. Services will be at 11 a.m. Saturday at The First Presbyterian Church, Beaufort. The family will receive friends after services at 120 Spanish Point Drive, Beaufort. Burial will be at the Woodside Cemetery in Middletown. Memorials may be made to the Bill and Peggy Verity Career Education Fund for the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Lowcountry, 17B Marshellen Drive, Beaufort, SC 29902. ____________________