Former Congresswoman Nita Lowey, who represented Westchester for decades, and served as the first woman to lead the Appropriations Committee, passed away Saturday at her Harrison home after battling breast cancer. She was 87.
Serving from 1988 until her retirement in 2020, Lowey, a staunch Democrat, advocated causes atop the liberal agenda, including support for women’s reproductive rights, funding for the homeless and low-income housing, and child care and early education programs, according to her New York Times obituary. Lowey was born in The Bronx in 1937.
“Nita has quietly and bravely battled metastatic breast cancer in recent years with the same tenacity and strength that she fought throughout her 32-year career in Congress for women, children and families in the U.S. and around the world,” her family said in a statement.
In 1988, she first ran for Congress at the age of 51 and a newcomer to politics. She defeated Republican incumbent Joe DioGuardi to begin an impressive streak of winning reelection every two years after. She represented suburban communities north of New York City, becoming synonymous with Westchester County, and the Sound Shore. She also served parts of Rockland County, and earlier in her career the Bronx and Queens before her district was reshaped following the 2020 census.
Lowey successfully fought for legislation that provided federal workers with contraception coverage through their federal health insurance in the Republican-controlled House in the late 1990s.
Lowey was Jewish and a staunch supporter of Israel. She was involved with efforts to fight for peace in the Middle East, including lobbying for the Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act that passed after her retirement, which budgeted U.S. dollars to support grassroots peace programs in the region.
In 2018, she took over leadership of the House Appropriations Committee, a trailblazing effort as the first woman to chair the powerful congressional committee. But one year later, she announced she would not seek reelection.
“She was the definition of an excellent public servant: smart, warm. Principled and fearless. For over 30 years, she represented our home area in Congress with grace and fortitude,” said Democratic Congressman George Latimer, who currently represents Lowey’s former district. “Nita Lowey has passed away … but she will be forever remembered. And forever praised.”
Lowey endorsed Latimer during last year’s hotly contested congressional campaign.
She was also a family friend of Catherine Parker, a Democrat who currently represents the seventh district in the Westchester County Legislature, which includes Larchmont, Mamaroneck, and Rye amongst other towns and villages. Parker’s stepfather was business partners with Lowey’s husband, Stephen.
Parker said Lowey was responsible for securing approximately $6 million in federal funding for the sluice gate water control device at the Bowman Avenue Dam in Rye Brook, one of the city’s prized flood mitigation projects installed following devastating floods that blanketed the Sound Shore in 2007.
“She really was a very down to earth person,” Parker said. “For constituents, when they reach out to an elected official because they’re having a problem, oftentimes they think it’s a Hail Mary pass, hoping that an elected official will be able to to help them.”
Calling her a tremendous elected official and public servant, Parker said Lowey was a role model of hers.
“And I think Nita’s gift was really that she was so warm and her office was incredibly efficient, and they were able to really touch the lives of so many people,” she added.
