Political Quotes

“I rise to pay tribute to Dr. Thomas F. Weaver, a man who devoted his life to ideas and to education. Tom died earlier this month at home in Rhode Island and his sudden passing came as a shock to all who knew him. Although he was in his midsixties, Tom was an active athlete and an inspired educator. As chairman of the department of environmental and natural resource economics at the University of Rhode Island [URI], his aggressive intellect, his warm spirit, and his enthusiasm all reflected the energy of a much younger man. Tom worked closely with my staff for more than a decade in planning the $24 million construction of buildings that will comprise URI's Coastal Institute on Narragansett Bay. Indeed, the building to be erected on the university's main campus will include a policy simulation laboratory that would have been his pride and joy. Although the Coastal Institute will be the result of work by many talented and committed individuals, Tom stood out as the workhorse who followed every development. He helped nudge the process along to assure that USDA matching construction funds were secured. My staff and I were only too glad to help. The University of Rhode Island is now perfectly positioned, as both a land grant and a sea grant college, to develop the Coastal Institute. It is my hope, and a hope I know Tom shared, that these closely related natural resources disciplines will meet and grow at the Coastal Institute.”