Bill Pascrell: “Frank Lautenberg was my friend for 45 years. We drank the same water in Paterson, New Jersey. He was a person of very…”

“Frank Lautenberg was my friend for 45 years. We drank the same water in Paterson, New Jersey. He was a person of very small means when you looked at his mom and dad. They worked in the factories in Paterson, New Jersey, as so many other people did. His father died when he was 43 years of age. He got sick from the jobs that he had when there was no protection for workers, not like it is now. Now, can you picture this in a garage in Paterson, New Jersey, off of Carroll Street, four guys together, putting a company together, that if you didn't invest in it you kicked yourself after that, ADP? He had a business acumen, a business sense, that went beyond votes on the floor of the Senate. He was a good guy, and I know that the talking heads would say he was a liberal's liberal. Frank Lautenberg was a very basic, conservative guy when it came to our values in this country. He was not a spectator by any stretch. He was in there. He was in the battle. He came back to School No. 6 on Mercer Street in Paterson to take care of those kids, to give them computers and to say make sure you take care of those computers because this is going to get you, perhaps, on a path to something better in life for you and your family. He didn't forget it. A lot of people say he didn't forget his roots. That's a wave. That's a passing by. He was not that kind of a person. So, to Bonnie and to his beautiful family, our best, best, deepest feelings of condolences and sorrow.…”