Tribute to Paul Unger
TRIBUTE TO PAUL UNGER
Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, today I pay tribute to a remarkable Ohioan-a man of great vision and great compassion. Paul Unger is the founder of the Unger Croatia Institute for Public Administration, an organization that provides professional training, education, and technical assistance to Croatian Government administrators and university officials. On January 23, 2004, he will receive the Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award from the U.S. Agency for International Development for his tireless dedication to fostering democracy and freedom in Croatia.
Paul Unger, a fellow Ohioan who is a native of Cleveland, first arrived in Zagreb for a Christmas party one wintry December night in 1945. He was en route from his post as commandant of a United Nations refugee camp for Croatians in Egypt to his new assignment as administrator for the United Nations relief program in Yugoslavia. That evening, he met Sonja Franz, a Croatian architect-engineer, who became his wife by the next holiday season. Soon after they married, the Ungers left Croatia for the United States.
As the decades passed, the Ungers kept close contact with their family, friends, and colleagues who had remained overseas, committed to a free, democratic Croatia. In 1997, Paul Unger assembled an advisory group of 45 American and Croatian banking, education, and government leaders to found the Unger Croatia Institute for Public Administration to help reform-minded leaders ease Croatia's transition from the devastating war to a more efficient, democratic government.
As a first step, Mr. Unger created a fellowship program to assist senior Croatian officials in the development of improved practices in government. This program was to be administered by his alma mater, Harvard University. The Unger Croatia Program was created within the John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the Institute Advisory Group was charged with nominating and selecting candidates. Between 1998-2001, the Ungers personally sponsored 22 Fellows at the Kennedy School, including deputy prime ministers, cabinet ministers and deputies, national bank governors, parliamentary committee chairs, ambassadors, and a Presidential candidate.
To build a program that could provide similar services for locally elected officials, Mr. Unger turned to the Maxine Goodman Levin College of Urban Affairs at Cleveland State University, CSU. In 2001, the Unger Croatia Center for Local Government Leadership was established within CSU's Levin College.
The success of the Cleveland seminars inspired Mr. Unger to create an educational alliance between CSU and the University of Rijeka, which was formalized in 2002. This collaboration continues to blossom. Over the past 2 years, the Unger Croatia Center at CSU has worked closely with the Economics faculty in Rijeka to develop their professional courses. Last summer, the University of Rijeka hosted the first seminar for public officials in Croatia, and this spring, the University will introduce its first programs in public administration and public health administration-an important step toward the eventual realization of the first-ever Croatian Graduate School of Public Administration.
As Mr. Unger continues to work toward a vision for a prosperous Croatia, government is being transformed. Program participants have returned home and implemented the techniques learned through their studies, creating an environment where Croatians have become increasingly involved in local government and have taken an active role in setting budget priorities and guiding community development.
Beyond his extraordinary efforts abroad, Mr. Unger also has contributed much to our home State of Ohio. It is here that he and Sonja raised a family and achieved prominence through a successful business, volunteer service, and community activism. Among his many accomplishments, Mr. Unger served as president/CEO of the Unger Company, a national food packaging company headquartered in Cleveland; chairman of the Urban Renewal Task Force for the Mayor of Cleveland; president of the Cleveland chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union; and chairman of the Ohio's International Trade Council. He has been widely-recognized, notably by the Cleveland Heights High School Hall of Fame, the Cleveland Blue Book, and the City Club of Cleveland Hall of Fame.
Finally, Paul Unger has remained steadfast in moving Cleveland into the international arena. He has helped lead the Cleveland-Miskole Sister City Committee and the Cleveland Council on World Affairs. He also has sponsored the "Cleveland in the World" lecture series at the City Club of Cleveland. Sonja has been a local civic and political leader in her own right and was the first woman to be honored with a Golden Door Award by Cleveland's Nationality Services Center for her dedication as a social worker and interpreter.
In January 2004, the USAID's Bureau for Europe and Eurasia will honor Paul Unger with the Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award, which recognizes Americans who have made exceptional contributions to international development through volunteerism. I congratulate Mr. Unger for all his work at home and abroad and express my thanks to him and to his wife Sonja for their leadership, dedication, and commitment to democracy in Croatia.