Environmental Champion and Congressman Remembered

“My main focus here is jobs,” said the late Congressman Hinchey during a visit to Lockheed Martin in 2011 to announce funding. As a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Hinchey continued to be a champion for the Southern Tier area as he worked to bring dollars and jobs into the community.

“I will continue to fight for every federal dollar I can to bring home and support jobs in the Southern Tier that will in turn support our troops in the field,” said the late Congressman Hinchey during a visit to the Southern Tier in 2011.

On Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2017, the community learned that Hinchey died at his home in Saugerties. He was 79.

According to reports, the cause of Hinchey’s death was frontotemporal degeneration, a rare and terminal neurological disorder.

Hinchey’s political career spanned nearly four decades, and the New York Times described him as a champion of the environment and blue-collar workers. He retired from Congress in 2013 following ten terms.

As a member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, Hinchey was able to use his position to bring continued funding for various programs at Lockheed Martin in Owego, thus sparing jobs and helping to keep programs in place.

In downtown Owego, Hinchey was also instrumental in gaining funding to build a riverwalk behind the buildings known as Riverow. This project, which was spearheaded by the late Village of Owego Mayor, Ed Arrington, as well as Congressman Hinchey, offered bank stabilization while creating a landscape and walkway that enhanced the area.

Also, in June of 2009, Congressman Hinchey announced that the House Appropriations Subcommittee on the Interior approved a $150,000 request he made to renovate Owego’s historic municipal building located at 90 Temple St.

As for the environment, Hinchey became a fierce critic of hydraulic fracturing, and an equally strong proponent of renewable energy.

Described by the New York Times as having an unassuming demeanor and a relatively low profile, Hinchey came to be known as a reliable Democratic vote and had great influence with a seat on the Appropriations Committee, where he routinely inserted money for his district and state into federal spending bills.

During his two decades in Congress, Hinchey served a district that spanned eight counties, to include Tioga.

Born on Oct. 27, 1938, in New York City, Hinchey moved to Saugerties with his family at a young age. He enlisted in the Navy after high school and later worked as a laborer at a Hudson Valley cement plant for two years.

Hinchey, according to a New York Times report, put himself through the State University of New York at New Paltz, working as a night-shift toll collector on the New York State Thruway. He also earned a master’s degree at the university and did advanced graduate work in public administration and economics at the State University of New York at Albany.

Hinchey is survived by his wife, Ilene Marder Hinchey; his children, Michelle, Joseph and Reese; his sister, Patricia; his brothers, Michael and John; and four grandchildren.