NRC ESTABLISHES EDWARD MCGAFFIGAN JR. AWARD 

FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN PUBLIC SERVICE 

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced today that it will establish the Edward 

McGaffigan Jr. Public Service Award in memory of the agency’s longest-serving commissioner, 

who died last year after a long battle with cancer. 

 The award will be a career tribute given to an NRC employee or recent retiree who 

demonstrates an extraordinary commitment to public service and exemplifies the integrity, 

professional dedication, and moral character that Commissioner McGaffigan exhibited in his 

decades of public service. The award will be considered annually but granted only when a 

nominee meets all the specifications and requirements for the award. 

Edward J. McGaffigan Jr. dedicated more than 31 years of his life to public service for 

his country. As a self-described “Kennedy Democrat” he regarded answering John F. Kennedy’s 

call to public service as both a duty and privilege. Always putting the interests of the nation and 

the health and safety of the public above any desire for personal advantage, he fulfilled that duty 

of public service with the highest distinction. 

“It was an honor and privilege to work alongside my friend, Ed McGaffigan, at the 

agency he cared so much about,” NRC Chairman Dale E. Klein said. “The nation owes Ed a debt 

of gratitude for his 31 years of public service in various positions throughout the government. 

But it was the NRC where he spent the last and a very substantial part of his career, and which 

benefitted greatly from his honesty, his energy, and his keen intelligence. This award is a small 

token of our appreciation for everything Commissioner McGaffigan did to make the NRC a 

better regulator and a better place to work.” 

McGaffigan was appointed to the Commission by President Bill Clinton in 1996 and 

2000, and by President George W. Bush in 2005. He was the first commissioner in the agency’s 

history to be nominated for a third term. On Nov. 3, 2006, he became the panel’s longest serving 

member and was awarded the agency’s highest honor, the Distinguished Service Award. Then, 

on Dec. 8, 2006, he marked 10 years of service to the NRC. 

Before joining the NRC, McGaffigan served in the Foreign Service and as legislative 

assistant and legislative director for Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M. 

NRC NEWS

U.S. NUCLEAR REGULATORY COMMISSION

Office of Public Affairs Telephone: 301/415-8200 

Washington, D.C. 20555-0001 

E-mail: opa@nrc.gov 

Site: http://www.nrc.gov

No. 08-052 March 11, 2008
Despite intensive and debilitating medical treatment for his cancer, Commissioner 

McGaffigan continued to report to work until the last week of his life, and remained cheerfully 

relentless in his passion for making the NRC a better place to work, and a more efficient, 

responsive, and responsible agency. His death in September 2007 followed the 11th anniversary 

of his first swearing-in by a matter of days. 

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