Steven Holt: “I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance) and my other colleague from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) for setting aside…”

“I thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Lance) and my other colleague from New Jersey (Mr. Pallone) for setting aside this time. Too young, too soon, not fair, not explicable in a larger sense. It is with great sadness that we come to the floor tonight to honor the life of a fine colleague and a friend, a dedicated public servant to the State of New Jersey, John Adler. John was dedicated to the service of the people of New Jersey. His devotion to New Jersey led him to run for and win a congressional seat in 2008, as you heard from our colleague, Mr. Lance. While John ultimately was not returned to this body for this session of Congress, his legacy of public service will indeed live on. No doubt he would have continued to find ways to improve the lives of New Jerseyans. Sharing not only a State but also a hallway in the Longworth Office Building with John, I had an opportunity to get to know him fairly well. He was a wonderful colleague. I will miss, as we all will, his cheerful demeanor and wonderful sense of humor that he brought to all of his work. A sense of humor, a good spirit in good times and in bad. And I will miss his wisdom and his sharp political insight and his policy knowledge. Today, during a memorial at his funeral in New Jersey, there were several comments made, and I would like to read a few. His law school roommate and best man commented that John Adler really did believe that worrying was just a waste of time.…”