AIA News 2012
AIA Mourns Senator Daniel Inouye
December 18, 2012
Statement by Marion C. Blakey, President and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, on the death of Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii)
Arlington, Va. – Today we mourn the loss of Senator Daniel Inouye, a great patriot and an unfailing advocate for the people of Hawaii and the United States.
The senior-most member of the Senate, and second-longest serving Senator in American history, Inouye continuously represented Hawaii in Congress since it achieved statehood in 1959. A true American hero, Inouye lost his right arm in combat in Italy during World War II. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor for his wartime service in 2000.
A long-time advocate for aerospace and defense issues, Inouye served on the Senate Commerce and Appropriations Committees for more than forty years, chairing the Appropriations Committee since 2009 as well as the Defense Subcommittee, where he crafted legislation that ensured our armed services were equipped to face any threat. His consistent approach of bipartisanship, comity and compromise was a model of effective leadership in the Senate. AIA recognized his ongoing contributions to aerospace and defense in 2009 with the Wings of Liberty Award.
Our thoughts and prayers are with his family; he will be sorely missed.
