WASHINGTON--Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, paid tribute today to the late Rex. E. Lee, the former president of Brigham Young University who served as the U.S. solicitor general under the Reagan administration.

Hatch spoke out in support of H.R. 3547, a bill to rename the Provo Post Office after Lee. The legislation cleared the Senate by unanimous consent.

“Anyone who had the privilege of knowing Rex, as I did, well remembers his stellar service to his community, our state and to the nation as a whole,” Hatch said in his remarks, which were entered into the Congressional Record. “Long after his passing, his influence still lingers and is keenly felt everywhere from the classrooms at BYU to the corridors of our government’s most-revered institutions. Renaming the Provo Post Office in Rex’s honor befits a public servant of his stature, and I am pleased to support this legislation in the Senate to honor Rex’s legacy.”

Hatch’s complete tribute to Rex E. Lee follows:

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to Rex E. Lee, a man whose legacy we recognize today by renaming the post office in Provo, Utah in his honor. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner captured my own feelings about Rex when she said, “Knowing him [Rex] was one of the greatest privileges of my life. Remembering him will be one of the easiest.”

Graduating first in his class from the University of Chicago Law School in 1963, Rex went on to serve as a law clerk for Byron White on the United States Supreme Court. Then, just four years out of law school, Rex argued his first case before the Supreme Court in 1967 and went on in 1972 to become the Founding Dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University.

In addition to serving as an Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Civil Division at the Department of Justice in the middle of the 1970s, Rex served as the Solicitor General of the United States from 1981-1985. In fact, over the span of his life, Rex argued 59 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States and his record as the Solicitor General is impressive. Never one to rest, Mr. President, Rex was then named as the 10th President of Brigham Young University in 1989 where he served thousands of students, faculty, and administrators faithfully for over six years. As a man, Rex is someone I respected; as a dedicated husband, father, and friend, Rex is someone who is deeply missed.

Anyone who had the privilege of knowing Rex, as I did, well remembers his stellar service to his community, our state and to the nation as a whole. Long after his passing, his influence still lingers and is keenly felt everywhere from the classrooms at BYU to the corridors of our government’s most revered institutions. Renaming the Provo Post Office in Rex’s honor befits a public servant of his stature, and I am pleased to support this legislation in the Senate to honor Rex’s legacy.

In short, Rex Lee was a great man and I am proud to see the Provo Post Office named after him. There are thousands of Utahns throughout the state who join me in celebrating this man’s great life with this fitting tribute.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.