Hugh Carey, the two-term governor who helped New York city avert bankruptcy in 1975, has died. He was 92.
Mr Carey died early yesterday at his summer home on New York’s Shelter Island, according to a statement from his family released by New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s office.
“Governor Carey led our state during a time of great financial turmoil and pulled us back from the brink of bankruptcy and economic ruin,” Mr Cuomo said in a statement.
A Democrat who served in Congress as a representative from Brooklyn, Mr Carey made financial discipline a priority from his first days after taking over as governor in 1975.
Declaring that New York state had been “living far beyond our means”, he told the legislature that “the days of wine and roses are over”. By then, New York city was already in a fiscal crisis. Within months, banks cut off the city’s access to credit because it had run up a $5 billion deficit by borrowing to pay operating expenses and loans.
With his hand-picked partner from Wall Street, financier Felix Rohatyn, Mr Carey oversaw the effort that rescued the city from a bond default. He lent state money to the city and, with the legislature, created a new agency to try to sell its bonds.
Hugh Leo Carey was born in Brooklyn on April 11th, 1919, the third of six boys. His parents, Dennis and Margaret, ran an oil- and-kerosene distributing company. The second World War interrupted Carey’s studies at St John’s University in Queens. He fought in northern Europe with the 104th (Timberwolf) Infantry Division, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel.
He was awarded the Bronze Star and the French Croix de Guerre. – (Bloomberg)