I am creating a report where I can pull the data into three different groups.  The issue that I am having that in one of the tables there are multiple dates that are linked into table, causing the other sets of data to repeat itself.  How can I just take the most recent date in the category that is causing multiple returns of the same data?

One approach I have used to pull the last data that corresponds to a date is as follows:
01/01/2012 = abc
07/01/2012 = def
01/01/2013 = aaa

So, I can get the maximum of date, but how to find the accompanying result/value?
Convert each into a pair, such that
with a string command to date format, place a "." & then the other data
20120101.abc
20120701.def
20130101.aaa

So, I sort to get maximum of
20130101.aaa
And then pull the data apart to get the related data after the "."