Amo Houghton (R, NY) dies at 93

[Recursion]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/05/nyregion/amory-houghton-jr-dead.html

The last sane Republican. A throwback to the pre-Gingrich days.

Amory Houghton Jr., who stepped down as head of his family’s venerable glass works corporation to serve for two decades as a wealthy congressman from upstate New York, becoming a leading moderate Republican voice who defied his party’s hard-right turn, died on Wednesday at his home in Corning, N.Y. He was 93.

His family announced his death.

Mr. Houghton (pronounced HOE-ton), who was widely known as Amo, was elected to Congress in 1986 after a long tenure as chairman and chief executive of Corning Glass Works (now Corning Incorporated). One of the world’s biggest glass makers, it was founded in 1851 by a great-great-grandfather, also named Amory Houghton.

In his first race for the House, Mr. Houghton, a scion of one of the most prominent families in upstate New York, handily won an open seat in a predominantly Republican district whose dairy farms and small-city industrial centers would later run into economic hard times. He easily won eight re-election races.

[pat_k]

1. Rest in peace