McKinney Among Many Remembering Former Governor Meskill
McKinney Among Many Remembering Former Governor Meskill
HARTFORD â (AP) Former Connecticut Governor and US Representative Thomas J. Meskill died early Monday in Florida, his wife said. He was 79.
He had the blood disorder myelodysplasia and had gone to the Bethesda Memorial Hospital in Boynton Beach, Fla., on Sunday to have blood drawn. Mary Meskill, his wife of 52 years, said he died of a heart attack at the hospital about 4 am. Thomas Meskill, a Republican, was governor from 1971 to 1975.
In a brief phone interview from her home in Delray Beach, Fla., Mary Meskill said she was too distraught to answer questions.
âWeâre grieving,â she said.
Asked about her husbandâs life, she said, âHe was a powerhouse. That we know.â
Mary Meskill said a funeral has not been scheduled, but it will be held in Meskillâs hometown of New Britain.
He first ran for office in 1958, when he made an unsuccessful bid for the state Senate. The following year, he ran for mayor and narrowly lost.
Meskill won in 1962 and served as mayor until 1964.
He was elected to Congress representing the 6th District in 1966 and served until 1970.
He was elected governor in 1971. When he entered office, the state had a $260 million deficit. By 1973, the deficit had been erased and the state treasury had a surplus of $65 million.
During Meskillâs tenure, the Department of Environmental Protection was established and a state lottery system was instituted as Meskillâs alternative to a state income tax.
In 1975, President Gerald Ford named him a judge on the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, and he served until 1993. During his last year on the bench, Meskill was chief judge.
State Senate Minority Leader John McKinney (R-Fairfield) remembered the former governor in a statement issued Monday, recalling an âimpressive life devoted to serving his state and country.
âHe was ahead of his time on many of the important issues of his day and his accomplishments are great,â Sen McKinney said. âHe helped establish one of the first state environmental protection agencies at a time when state initiatives to protect and preserve our environment were far less popular than they are today.â
Sen McKinney recalled Governor Meskillâs fight to establish greater protections for workersâ pensions, long before scandals at Enron and Worldcom made the need for such protections obvious to the rest of us.
âGovernor Meskill was a leader of great character and vision,â Sen McKinney said. âHe will be missed.â
House Speaker James Amann, D-Milford, said Meskill was well-respected at the Capitol, even though he had left office years ago.
âI can tell you that I never heard anything negative about Governor Meskill,â he said. âHe was a good leader and managed this state very well.â
New London Superior Court Judge Robert Leuba, who was legal counsel to Meskill from 1973 to 1975, said Meskill brought about pension reform, requiring companies to set aside money to guard against pension losses in case of bankruptcies. He also credited Meskill with establishing one of the first state environmental protection agencies in the United States.
âHe brought more advancements to Connecticut than people will ever know,â Judge Leuba said.