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2020 SPECIAL SESSION I


SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 501
Celebrating the life of Nathan K. Kotz.

 

Agreed to by the Senate, August 19, 2020

 

WHEREAS, Nathan K. Kotz of Broad Run, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist whose diligent reporting on unsanitary conditions in meatpacking plants led to increased health and safety regulations, died on April 26, 2020; and

WHEREAS, at a young age, Nathan “Nick” Kotz, born Nathan Kallison Lasser, moved with his mother and adoptive father from San Antonio, Texas, to Washington, D.C., where he attended St. Albans School; and

WHEREAS, Nick Kotz earned a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and conducted graduate work at the London School of Economics before serving his country as an officer in the United States Marine Corps; and

WHEREAS, Nick Kotz began working for the Des Moines Register in 1958 and transferred to the newspaper’s Washington, D.C., bureau in 1964; three years later, he wrote a series of articles detailing the dangerous and unsanitary conditions in meatpacking plants that did not engage in interstate commerce and were not subject to federal inspection; and

WHEREAS, Nick Kotz’s dogged reporting led to the passage of the Wholesome Meat Act of 1967, which required all meatpackers, animal-food manufacturers, and related transporters and warehouses to adhere to the federal regulatory standards and subsequently earned him the Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting; and

WHEREAS, in 1970, Nick Kotz joined the staff of The Washington Post as a national reporter and covered a wide range of topics, earning respect and admiration for his objectivity, timeliness, and thorough research; and

WHEREAS, throughout his career, Nick Kotz reported on the trucking industry’s influence on members of the United States Congress, patronage in the United States Postal Service, corruption in labor unions, and fraud and waste in the defense contracting industry; and

WHEREAS, in 1973, Nick Kotz left The Washington Post to pursue freelance journalism and independent writing projects; he completed books on food insecurity in the United States, the development of the Rockwell B-1 Lancer, a biography of scientist and civil rights activist George Wiley, and a profile of the working relationship between President Lyndon B. Johnson and the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; and

WHEREAS, with his final book, The Harness Maker’s Dream, Nick Kotz told the story of his namesake grandfather, Nathan Kallison, who immigrated to the United States from Russia and became a successful rancher and businessman in Texas; and

WHEREAS, Nick Kotz, who lived in Fauquier County for 40 years and co-ran a cattle farm there, was well known as a conservationist who cared deeply about preserving historically significant land; and

WHEREAS, Nick Kotz will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by his wife of 59 years, Mary Lynn; his son, Jack, and his family; and numerous other family members and friends; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the Senate of Virginia hereby note with great sadness the loss of Nathan K. Kotz, an exemplar of journalistic excellence; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the Senate prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Nathan K. Kotz as an expression of the Senate of Virginia’s respect for his memory.