VP Biden to Eulogize Sen. Lautenberg

Vice President Joe Biden will lead mourners at the funeral Wednesday for Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey. The service will be held at the Park Avenue Synagogue. Lautenberg died Monday at age 89.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Sen. Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Lautenberg’s family will also deliver eulogies.

Robert Sugarman and Malcolm Hoenlein, the chairman and executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents, said in a statement that Lautenberg “will long be remembered for his many contributions to America and American Jewish life.”

“He was a longtime steadfast leader of the American Jewish community, and an outstanding supporter of Israel, both in his public and private life,” the statement read.

Born in urban Paterson, N.J., the son of Polish and Russian Jewish immigrants, Lautenberg played a vital role in getting the “Lautenberg Amendment” passed in 1990, allowing thousands of Jews to emigrate from the former Soviet Union. The amendment permitted historic religious persecution to be a factor to receive refugee status.

Lautenberg, the statement said, was “a man of principle who fought tirelessly for the rights of the persecuted around the world, especially for the rights of Jews in the Former Soviet Union.”

The casket will be transferred to the Frank Lautenberg Rail Station in Secaucus, en route to D.C., where it will lie in repose in the Senate chamber. Lautenberg was the last World War II veteran serving in the Senate. He will be buried Friday at Arlington National Cemetery.

This article appeared in print on page D16 of the June 5th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.