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WASHINGTON (AP) ― Rep. Tom Lantos of San Mateo, the only Holocaust survivor in Congress before his death from cancer this week, was remembered at the U.S. Capitol on Thursday as a humanitarian who fought for the dispossessed worldwide.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Lantos, a Democrat who chaired the House Foreign Affairs Committee, "the epitome of a true American hero."

Rock star Bono, a friend who'd worked with Lantos on issues including HIV-AIDS prevention, led the hundreds of House members and senators present in a chorus of the Beatles' "All You Need is Love."

Rice and Bono were among a string of luminaries, including United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel, who delivered tributes in stately Statuary Hall.

"For Tom, freedom was not just an abstract ideal," Rice said.

"I can see him look at us with those piercing yet compassionate
eyes and say, 'All right, you can pause for a moment to remember me, but then you must resume the struggle,"' she said.

Livni said: "The free world has lost a great leader, and Israel has lost a great friend."

Lantos' childhood sweetheart and wife of nearly six decades, Annette, his two daughters and two of his 17 grandchildren also spoke. They and others focused on Lantos' love for the huge family that surrounded him in this country after his mother and other family members perished in the Holocaust.

Lantos always began conversations by talking about his family, and "there was a sort of radiation of joy," recalled Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., a longtime friend.

A native of Budapest, Lantos escaped Nazi labor camps as a teenager before coming to the United States.

He was 80 and serving his 14th term representing a northern California district including his home of San Mateo when he died Monday morning. He'd disclosed in January that he'd been diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus.

During his congressional career Lantos advocated for human rights in Sudan, Myanmar, China and elsewhere with a unique moral authority that earned him bipartisan respect.

In 2006 he was arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy protesting the killings in Darfur. Last year he called a hearing where he denounced Yahoo Inc. executives as "moral pygmies" for their role in the jailing of a Chinese dissident.

"I saw him speak truth to power, to presidents, prime ministers and kings," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco.

Lantos had a lighter side, too. His daughter Katrina Swett recalled his enjoyment when, at his 75th birthday, his grandchildren regaled him with a song from the musical "Fiddler on the Roof." But instead of "If I were a rich man...," they sang "If I were the chairman..."

That reflected Lantos' long-standing desire to chair the Foreign Affairs Committee, an appointment he finally got just a year ago when Democrats took control of Congress.

The moving and bipartisan remembrance was immediately followed by a sour return to partisan bickering, however, when Democrats and Republicans just yards away on the House floor accused each other of breaking promises to cease legislating while the ceremony was in progress. Democrats reconvened the House while the memorial was ongoing and Republicans then sought a procedural vote to block Democratic legislation, drawing howls of protests from Democrats. Each side insisted the other was to blame.

(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)