He was 89. Jay Rockefeller, the last member of his family’s political dynasty — and the only Democrat — who served as West Virginia’s governor and later a longtime U.S. senator, has died.
Rockefeller came from one of the nation’s richest families to spend a half century in public service in one of the poorest states. He was born John D. Rockefeller IV in New York City. His great-grandfather, Standard Oil Co. founder John Rockefeller, died a month before Rockefeller’s birth. His father, John D. Rockefeller III, was a well-known philanthropist. Uncles Winthrop (Arkansas) and Nelson (New York) were Republican governors. Another uncle, David Rockefeller, ran Chase Manhattan Bank. Jay Rockefeller went in a different direction.
He arrived in 1964 as a worker in an anti-poverty program, was elected governor a dozen years later and served two terms, then spent 30 years as a U.S. senator . A few years out of college at age 27, Rockefeller moved to the West Virginia mining community of Emmons to participate in the Volunteers in Service to America program, a time that Rockefeller said proved transformative.
Rockefeller died Thursday night at his home in Washington, said Mary Stewart, vice president for external affairs at WETA, the public broadcasting station where Rockefeller’s wife, Sharon, serves as president and CEO. “I could not imagine a more rewarding career,” Rockefeller said upon his retirement in 2015.
He won by comfortable margins in each of his five terms. “It explains every policy I pursued and every vote I have cast. By combining money with hard work in a traditionally Democratic state, Rockefeller overcame suspicions of political opportunism and rose from state legislator to secretary of state to governor. After the defeat, Rockefeller remained in West Virginia, a decision he called the most important of his career. As governor, Rockefeller emphasized development of the state’s infrastructure, such as roads, sewers and bridges. It came despite a landslide victory that year for Republican President Ronald Reagan. Rockefeller and his wife, Sharon, daughter of former Republican Sen. Charles Percy of Illinois, fit easily into the capital’s social scene, purchasing a multimillion-dollar estate for their family. Rockefeller’s vast wealth was always a source of conversation and an undercurrent in his political races. Robert C. Byrd’s immense shadow. Rockefeller’s influence was less showy. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, he championed consumers’ rights, upgrading broadband infrastructure and sponsoring a bill to block companies from tracking online activity of their customers. He also was head of committees on Veterans Affairs and Intelligence, frequently sparring with President George W. Bush over foreign policy. But Rockefeller also differed with the Democratic administration of President Barack Obama over mining-related regulations. With his state the nation’s second-biggest coal producer, Rockefeller was among several West Virginia officials who opposed the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency’s oversight of the mountaintop removal method of surface mining. College studies in Tokyo laid the groundwork for Rockefeller’s efforts to bring business from Japan to West Virginia.
4, 2014. Rockefeller broke from his family’s Republican tradition and was elected to the state House of Delegates as a Democrat in 1966 While he intended for his stay in the state to be brief. A turning point came after Rockefeller’s only political defeat in the 1972 governor’s race to Republican Arch A. Moore Jr., whose daughter, Republican Shelley Moore Capito, was elected in 2014 to Rockefeller’s Senate seat upon his retirement. He became the first without a theological degree to become president of West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1973. His popularity there — and a change in his stance to embrace strip mining — translated to a landslide win over Republican Cecil Underwood in the 1976 governor’s race. After Rockefeller defeated Arch Moore in a rematch in 1980, he won a U.S. Senate seat in 1984 after the retirement of longtime Democrat Jennings Randolph. Never shy or apologetic about using his inherited $150 million fortune to win his races, he spent millions upon millions from his own pocket. He spent at least $21 million of his own money in his political campaigns, including $9 million to win a close 1984 Senate race against Republican novice and fellow multimillionaire John Raese. In Rockefeller’s 1980 gubernatorial race against Republican Arch Moore Jr., bumper stickers appeared saying: “Make Him Spend It All, Arch. The state’s junior senator for 25 years, Rockefeller carved his own path of influence in Sen. Byrd died in 2010 as the longest-serving senator in U.S. history, winning an enduring reputation for steering billions of dollars over many decades to boost his impoverished state. He authored legislation in 1997 that created the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which assists poor families whose incomes are too high to qualify for Medicaid. Rockefeller said he regretted his 2002 vote to authorize the war against Iraq. He had known Toyota’s founding family since the 1960s and was instrumental in helping the Japanese automaker pick a Buffalo, West Virginia, cornfield for an engine parts plant in 1996. The $2 billion plant now employs about 2,200 workers. Earlier reporting noted: Jay Rockefeller, heir to famed dynasty and healthcare advocate in US Senate, dies at 89 John D. He was 89. Earlier reporting noted: Rockefeller served five terms as West Virginia senator Rockefeller served five terms as West Virginia senator Earlier reporting noted: Rockefeller, a tall, soft-spoken Democrat with liberal views, was elected in 1984 to the first of his five six-year terms representing West Virginia in the Senate after two terms as governor of the poor coal-mining state.
It was where my beliefs were bolted down, and where my passions met my principles,” he said in an emotional farewell speech from the Senate floor on Dec. Those issues, he said, are “not very sexy things, I grant you but very, very necessary in West Virginia. “Jay” Rockefeller IV, the progeny of one of America’s most famous and wealthiest families who during three decades in the US Senate sought expanded healthcare for the poor and excoriated President George W.
Bush’s handling of the Iraq war, died on Friday at his home in Washington, the Washington Post reported.
