Jay Rockefeller: “I rise today with a deep sense of honor and a deep sense of sadness to speak about the late Senator Charles Harting…”

“I rise today with a deep sense of honor and a deep sense of sadness to speak about the late Senator Charles Harting Percy of Illinois who passed away this past Saturday, with his family surrounding him. Before I begin, though, I also wish to speak about two other losses to the Senate family. One, of course, is Kara Kennedy, the beloved daughter of Senator Ted Kennedy, as well as Eleanor Mondale, the beloved daughter of Vice President and Senator Fritz Mondale. Each of these two wonderful people died at the age of 51 and it is incomprehensible. It is terrible. They were far too young to be taken from us. The Percy and Rockefeller family love flows to their families. Senator Chuck Percy was blessed to live a long and accomplished life. He lived to be 91 years old. Many of my colleagues know Senator Percy was a distinguished Republican Member of the Senate for 18 years, from 1967 to 1984, which is the year I came to the Senate. He was chairman, as people know, of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and a man with an absolutely vast talent that he poured into every aspect of his public service as well as his private business career. He was extraordinary in that way. He had brains. He had vision. He had stamina. He had energy. He was incredibly athletic. He could do anything for any amount of time and under all of this was built this incredible discipline that made him do it all.…”