Joel Solomon, Former GSA Director, Dies at 62
By Martin Weil
July 30, 1984
Joel W. (Jay) Solomon, 62, who as head of the General Services Administration in the first half of President Jimmy Carter's term gave vigorous leadership to efforts to root out corruption in his scandal-plagued agency, died yesterday at his home in Nashville.
Death was attributed to heart failure. Mr. Solomon had long suffered from a kidney ailment.
A wealthy Tennessee real estate developer who joined the Carter administration in 1977, Mr. Solomon won praise for his outspoken determination to end payoffs and other abuses at GSA, the federal government's multibillion-dollar housekeeping and purchasing agency.
By 1979, investigations had resulted in 40 indictments alleging that GSA employes had accepted payoffs in return for certifying to the receipt of goods and services that, in fact, were never received.
When Mr. Solomon submitted his resignation on March 21, 1979, President Carter said he accepted it "with regret."
"Because of your leadership and integrity, decades of waste and corruption at the GSA are now being exposed, and those who have betrayed the public trust are being identified and punished," the president said.
In addition to policing scandal, Mr. Solomon won plaudits for his efforts to improve the aesthetic aspects of GSA's buildings. In one of his first moves, he restored the mandatory expenditure for artistic embellishment of a public building to half of 1 percent of the total construction cost. It meant, for example, that if a building cost $20 million, $100,000 would be spent on art.
Along similar lines, Mr. Solomon emphasized efforts to preserve historic landmark buildings around the country by adapting them to federal use. Although legislation making this possible predated his tenure, he was credited with enthusiastic and invaluable support for such projects as the restoration of the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
Although Mr. Solomon insisted that he intended to resign about the time he did, his last months on the job were shadowed by signs that his departure was being encouraged by the White House. Some observers saw his difficulties as the result of an unfamiliarity with the subtle ways of Washington.
Also said to be displeasing at high administration levels was the manner in which a close friend of House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) was dismissed as GSA deputy administrator.
Mr. Solomon was a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., who graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and once worked for the chain of movie theaters founded by his father. In the late 1960s, the family sold their theaters and began building shopping centers.
Long active in civic and charitable activities in Tennessee, he was a former chairman of the Chattanooga Housing authority.
About two months before he left GSA, Mr. Solomon discussed in an interview the possibility that perhaps he had not been sufficiently calculating.
"I've made a good living being nice," he said. "I've come out of this thing pretty good by being nice. I'd rather leave something like that to my children than leave something else. I'm not poor. When I leave, I'll go back and make a lot more money than ever before."
Survivors include his wife, Margaret and two children, Joel and Linda.
Published by The Washington Post
Middle Name, Locations by Lindsay R (#48233803)
Mr. Solomon served as Director of the General Services Administration under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1979. The federal courthouse in Chattanooga is named in his honor.
Contributor: Lindsay R (48233803)
By Martin Weil
July 30, 1984
Joel W. (Jay) Solomon, 62, who as head of the General Services Administration in the first half of President Jimmy Carter's term gave vigorous leadership to efforts to root out corruption in his scandal-plagued agency, died yesterday at his home in Nashville.
Death was attributed to heart failure. Mr. Solomon had long suffered from a kidney ailment.
A wealthy Tennessee real estate developer who joined the Carter administration in 1977, Mr. Solomon won praise for his outspoken determination to end payoffs and other abuses at GSA, the federal government's multibillion-dollar housekeeping and purchasing agency.
By 1979, investigations had resulted in 40 indictments alleging that GSA employes had accepted payoffs in return for certifying to the receipt of goods and services that, in fact, were never received.
When Mr. Solomon submitted his resignation on March 21, 1979, President Carter said he accepted it "with regret."
"Because of your leadership and integrity, decades of waste and corruption at the GSA are now being exposed, and those who have betrayed the public trust are being identified and punished," the president said.
In addition to policing scandal, Mr. Solomon won plaudits for his efforts to improve the aesthetic aspects of GSA's buildings. In one of his first moves, he restored the mandatory expenditure for artistic embellishment of a public building to half of 1 percent of the total construction cost. It meant, for example, that if a building cost $20 million, $100,000 would be spent on art.
Along similar lines, Mr. Solomon emphasized efforts to preserve historic landmark buildings around the country by adapting them to federal use. Although legislation making this possible predated his tenure, he was credited with enthusiastic and invaluable support for such projects as the restoration of the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
Although Mr. Solomon insisted that he intended to resign about the time he did, his last months on the job were shadowed by signs that his departure was being encouraged by the White House. Some observers saw his difficulties as the result of an unfamiliarity with the subtle ways of Washington.
Also said to be displeasing at high administration levels was the manner in which a close friend of House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) was dismissed as GSA deputy administrator.
Mr. Solomon was a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., who graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and once worked for the chain of movie theaters founded by his father. In the late 1960s, the family sold their theaters and began building shopping centers.
Long active in civic and charitable activities in Tennessee, he was a former chairman of the Chattanooga Housing authority.
About two months before he left GSA, Mr. Solomon discussed in an interview the possibility that perhaps he had not been sufficiently calculating.
"I've made a good living being nice," he said. "I've come out of this thing pretty good by being nice. I'd rather leave something like that to my children than leave something else. I'm not poor. When I leave, I'll go back and make a lot more money than ever before."
Survivors include his wife, Margaret and two children, Joel and Linda.
Published by The Washington Post
Middle Name, Locations by Lindsay R (#48233803)
Mr. Solomon served as Director of the General Services Administration under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1979. The federal courthouse in Chattanooga is named in his honor.
Contributor: Lindsay R (48233803)
Joel Solomon, Former GSA Director, Dies at 62
By Martin Weil
July 30, 1984
Joel W. (Jay) Solomon, 62, who as head of the General Services Administration in the first half of President Jimmy Carter's term gave vigorous leadership to efforts to root out corruption in his scandal-plagued agency, died yesterday at his home in Nashville.
Death was attributed to heart failure. Mr. Solomon had long suffered from a kidney ailment.
A wealthy Tennessee real estate developer who joined the Carter administration in 1977, Mr. Solomon won praise for his outspoken determination to end payoffs and other abuses at GSA, the federal government's multibillion-dollar housekeeping and purchasing agency.
By 1979, investigations had resulted in 40 indictments alleging that GSA employes had accepted payoffs in return for certifying to the receipt of goods and services that, in fact, were never received.
When Mr. Solomon submitted his resignation on March 21, 1979, President Carter said he accepted it "with regret."
"Because of your leadership and integrity, decades of waste and corruption at the GSA are now being exposed, and those who have betrayed the public trust are being identified and punished," the president said.
In addition to policing scandal, Mr. Solomon won plaudits for his efforts to improve the aesthetic aspects of GSA's buildings. In one of his first moves, he restored the mandatory expenditure for artistic embellishment of a public building to half of 1 percent of the total construction cost. It meant, for example, that if a building cost $20 million, $100,000 would be spent on art.
Along similar lines, Mr. Solomon emphasized efforts to preserve historic landmark buildings around the country by adapting them to federal use. Although legislation making this possible predated his tenure, he was credited with enthusiastic and invaluable support for such projects as the restoration of the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
Although Mr. Solomon insisted that he intended to resign about the time he did, his last months on the job were shadowed by signs that his departure was being encouraged by the White House. Some observers saw his difficulties as the result of an unfamiliarity with the subtle ways of Washington.
Also said to be displeasing at high administration levels was the manner in which a close friend of House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) was dismissed as GSA deputy administrator.
Mr. Solomon was a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., who graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and once worked for the chain of movie theaters founded by his father. In the late 1960s, the family sold their theaters and began building shopping centers.
Long active in civic and charitable activities in Tennessee, he was a former chairman of the Chattanooga Housing authority.
About two months before he left GSA, Mr. Solomon discussed in an interview the possibility that perhaps he had not been sufficiently calculating.
"I've made a good living being nice," he said. "I've come out of this thing pretty good by being nice. I'd rather leave something like that to my children than leave something else. I'm not poor. When I leave, I'll go back and make a lot more money than ever before."
Survivors include his wife, Margaret and two children, Joel and Linda.
Published by The Washington Post
Middle Name, Locations by Lindsay R (#48233803)
Mr. Solomon served as Director of the General Services Administration under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1979. The federal courthouse in Chattanooga is named in his honor.
Contributor: Lindsay R (48233803)
By Martin Weil
July 30, 1984
Joel W. (Jay) Solomon, 62, who as head of the General Services Administration in the first half of President Jimmy Carter's term gave vigorous leadership to efforts to root out corruption in his scandal-plagued agency, died yesterday at his home in Nashville.
Death was attributed to heart failure. Mr. Solomon had long suffered from a kidney ailment.
A wealthy Tennessee real estate developer who joined the Carter administration in 1977, Mr. Solomon won praise for his outspoken determination to end payoffs and other abuses at GSA, the federal government's multibillion-dollar housekeeping and purchasing agency.
By 1979, investigations had resulted in 40 indictments alleging that GSA employes had accepted payoffs in return for certifying to the receipt of goods and services that, in fact, were never received.
When Mr. Solomon submitted his resignation on March 21, 1979, President Carter said he accepted it "with regret."
"Because of your leadership and integrity, decades of waste and corruption at the GSA are now being exposed, and those who have betrayed the public trust are being identified and punished," the president said.
In addition to policing scandal, Mr. Solomon won plaudits for his efforts to improve the aesthetic aspects of GSA's buildings. In one of his first moves, he restored the mandatory expenditure for artistic embellishment of a public building to half of 1 percent of the total construction cost. It meant, for example, that if a building cost $20 million, $100,000 would be spent on art.
Along similar lines, Mr. Solomon emphasized efforts to preserve historic landmark buildings around the country by adapting them to federal use. Although legislation making this possible predated his tenure, he was credited with enthusiastic and invaluable support for such projects as the restoration of the Old Post Office on Pennsylvania Avenue NW.
Although Mr. Solomon insisted that he intended to resign about the time he did, his last months on the job were shadowed by signs that his departure was being encouraged by the White House. Some observers saw his difficulties as the result of an unfamiliarity with the subtle ways of Washington.
Also said to be displeasing at high administration levels was the manner in which a close friend of House Speaker Thomas P. (Tip) O'Neill Jr. (D-Mass.) was dismissed as GSA deputy administrator.
Mr. Solomon was a native of Chattanooga, Tenn., who graduated from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and once worked for the chain of movie theaters founded by his father. In the late 1960s, the family sold their theaters and began building shopping centers.
Long active in civic and charitable activities in Tennessee, he was a former chairman of the Chattanooga Housing authority.
About two months before he left GSA, Mr. Solomon discussed in an interview the possibility that perhaps he had not been sufficiently calculating.
"I've made a good living being nice," he said. "I've come out of this thing pretty good by being nice. I'd rather leave something like that to my children than leave something else. I'm not poor. When I leave, I'll go back and make a lot more money than ever before."
Survivors include his wife, Margaret and two children, Joel and Linda.
Published by The Washington Post
Middle Name, Locations by Lindsay R (#48233803)
Mr. Solomon served as Director of the General Services Administration under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1979. The federal courthouse in Chattanooga is named in his honor.
Contributor: Lindsay R (48233803)
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