{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-1998-12-18-pt1-PgE2345-3", "1998-12-18", 105, 2, null, null, "TRIBUTE TO J. REESE PHIFER", "HOUSE", "EXTENSIONS", "TRIBUTETO", "E2345", "E2346", "[{\"name\": \"Sonny Callahan\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "144 Cong. Rec. E2345", "Congressional Record, Volume 144 Issue 154 (Friday, December 18, 1998)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 154 (Friday, December 18, 1998)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Pages E2345-E2346]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n                       TRIBUTE TO J. REESE PHIFER\n\n                                 ______\n\n                          HON. SONNY CALLAHAN\n\n                               of alabama\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                       Friday, December 18, 1998\n\n  Mr. CALLAHAN. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to one of\nAlabama's most outstanding business leaders, the late J. Reese Phifer,\nwho recently passed away in his hometown of Tuscaloosa. With your\npermission, I would like to enter into the Congressional Record an\narticle that appeared in the New York Times which noted Mr. Phifer's\nmany contributions, not only to the business world, but in service to\nthe greater community as a whole. Mr. Phifer was a noted civic leader\nand philanthropist, and his death leaves a void, not only to his\nfamily, but to his beloved state and nation. The article is entitled:\n``J. Reese Phifer, 82, Founder of Aluminum Screen Empire'':\n  J. Reese Phifer, who turned a tiny aluminum screen factory into a\nbusiness that dominates its worldwide market, died on Sunday at DCH\nRegional Medical Center in Tuscaloosa. He was 82.\n  Phifer Wire Products Inc., which was stated in 1952 in an old\nwarehouse by Mr. Phifer, a lawyer with no previous manufacturing\nexperience, now employs more than 1,000 people to produce more than\nhalf the world's aluminum insect screening and more than 60 percent of\nthe world's fiberglass insect screening.\n  The company that Mr. Phifer founded also produces Sunscreen, which\nblock out solar rays and reduce heat, and Phifertex, a vinyl coating\nused on outdoor furniture.\n  Born on February 19, 1916, Mr. Phifer was the son of William and Olga\nGough Phifer. His father operated a grocery store, and Mr. Phifer and\nhis brother grew up delivering groceries and stocking shelves.\n\n[[Page E2346]]\n\n  He earned a bachelor's degree in commerce and a law degree from the\nUniversity of Alabama. He also learned to fly airplanes which would\nlater play an important role in his business. ``He set up a law\npractice and trained French and British Pilots in Tuscaloosa County\nwhen World War II broke out,'' said his brother, Joseph Tyler Phifer,\nof Tuscaloosa. Later Mr. Phifer ferried airplanes needed in the war\neffort from the United States to Europe.\n  After the war, he resumed his law practice, but he sought new\nchallenges. ``He told me that he wanted to get into manufacturing,''\nhis brother said. ``He said that's where the money was. He looked all\nover for something that wasn't manufactured in the South. He came up\nwith screen because we use more screen in the south than anywhere\nelse.''\n  Once he started the Phifer Aluminum Screen Company in 1952, Mr.\nPhifer did a little of everything. ``He was doing the selling\nhimself,'' Joseph Phifer said. ``He'd get in the plane and sell the\nwire and then come home and help make it. He had a little bitty office\nwith one secretary and the guy who helped him set up the looms.''\n  The company was renamed Phifer Wire Products in 1956. In 1973, the\ncompany moved to its current site, and has experienced almost constant\nexpansion.\n  Though he preferred to keep a low profile, Mr. Phifer was also widely\nknown as a civic leader and philanthropist. In honor of his\ncontributions to the University of Alabama, the university's trustees\nrenamed the old student union building Reese Phifer Hall in 1991. It\nnow houses the School of Communication. He also received an honorary\ndoctorate from the university in 1984.\n  In 1964, Mr. Phifer established the Reese Phifer, Jr. Memorial Trust,\na charitable arm of Phifer Wire, in honor of his son, who died in an\nairplane accident.\n  In addition to his brother, Mr. Phifer is survived by his wife, Sue\nClarkson Phifer of Tuscaloosa, three daughters, Beverly Clarkson\nPhifer, Karen Phifer Brooks and Susan Phifer Cork, all of Tuscaloosa,\nand seven grandchildren.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-1998-12-18-pt1-PgE2345-3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 44.02666701935232, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}