Richard Ottinger, former NY congressman and Pace law dean, dies at 97

<p><img src="https://www.gannett-cdn.com/authoring/authoring-images/2026/02/13/PWES/…; alt="88663316007-richard-ottinger-2013.jpg?au"></p><p>Richard Ottinger, a former Westchester County congressman known for his fierce environmental advocacy both in Washington and later as a professor and dean at Pace University's law school, has died at age 97.</p><p>Ottinger served 16 years in the House in two stints from 1965 to 1985, before leaving politics to teach environmental law in in his home county. In his second career at Pace, he helped forge an esteemed environmental program at the Elisabeth Haub School of Law, which he led as dean from 1995 to 1999. A new building was named for him there in 2013.</p><p>Ottinger was a longtime Mamaroneck resident and until recently could be seen cycling its streets on his distinctive three-wheel bicycle. He never lost his passion for protecting the environment and kept his hand in that cause until his final months, even delivering a talk recently in November <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8sqnQC2KCU&amp;t=30s">in a video played at a climate change conference in Brazil</a>.</p><p>Ottinger died at home early on Monday, Feb. 16, spending his final days there on palliative care after he was hospitalized on Jan. 30 and underwent surgery for brain bleeding. He is survived by his wife June and his four children — Ron, R. Joe, Larry and Jenny Louise — and their families, including 10 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.</p><p>Though it's a Democratic stronghold today, Westchester County was safely Republican turf when Ottinger first ran for Congress as a Democrat in 1964 at the urging of the county's Democratic chairman. <a href="https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/eesi-at-40-eesi-founder-and-former-r… he recalled in a 2024 interview</a>, he focused his campaign on the Hudson River's growing pollution and earned publicity that helped carry him to victory — and enraged Gov. Nelson Rockefeller along the way.</p><p>"The district lay along the Hudson River, and that river was very important to the District community," Ottinger explained in that interview. "But the state had badly neglected it — the river had become a sewer and fish were disappearing due to the pollution. So I made it a priority issue in my campaign." </p><p>Ottinger made his mark in Congress as one of its first environmentalists, just as that movement was growing in the 1960s. He began with the cause he had just championed in his campaign, getting a law passed to form a joint panel representing New York, New Jersey and the federal government to manage the Hudson's cleanup.</p><p>Ottinger was a pioneer in advocating for solar power and other renewable energy forms. He led the House Energy Conservation and Power Subcommittee and shaped new environmental laws. And he helped form a bipartisan group in Congress that evolved into the nonprofit <a href="https://www.eesi.org/">Environmental and Energy Study Institute</a>, which exists today. </p><p>Ottinger also stood out as an early and vocal critic of the Vietnam War, much to the chagrin of President Lyndon B. Johnson. Later in life, Ottinger often recounted an Oval Office encounter in which Johnson grabbed him by the collar to try to intimidate him and quiet his war criticism, which didn’t work. </p><p>After three House terms, Ottinger passed up re-election in 1970 to run for Senate instead, narrowly losing a three-way race to James Buckley, a Conservative Party member. He lost a comeback bid for the House in 1972 but won the next time, part of a Democratic wave that swept Congress after the Watergate scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon.</p><p>As congressman, Ottinger threw himself into constituent service with as much gusto as his policy pursuits. Every weekend, he returned home to Pleasantville from Washington and showed up at as many local events as he could.</p><p>"He really was devoted to the district," his son Larry recalled.</p><p>Frustrated with partisan gridlock in Washington, Ottinger declined to run again in 1984 after eight terms that spanned five presidencies. He came home to Westchester when his political career closed and soon joined the law school faculty at Pace University in White Plains.</p><p>The interests that drove him in Congress now did so at Pace. In 1987, he started an energy-focused think tank known today as the Pace Energy and Climate Center, which promotes clean energy and advocates for climate change mitigation. He also was co-director of the Pace Global Center for Environmental Legal Studies.</p><p>Ottinger cultivated what has become one of the nation's most acclaimed environmental law programs, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-law-schools/environmen… at the top last year by U.S. News &amp; World Report</a>.</p><p>Students quickly learned how unusually approachable Ottinger was in his five years as dean of the law school. Each year, he made a point of visiting classes to chat with new students and ask them questions, as one recent graduate recalled in a published tribute to Ottinger in 1999, his final year as dean.</p><p>"Even at that point, so early in our law school careers, we realized that Dean Ottinger was a figure to be remembered," Alicia Menechino <a href="https://digitalcommons.pace.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1331&amp;co… in that piece in the Pace law review</a>.</p><p>Ottinger grew up in Scarsdale. His father, Lawrence, was the founder of U.S. Plywood, a major supplier for the building industry, and his mother, Louise, was a philanthropist. Ottinger studied at Cornell University and Harvard Law School, served in the Air Force and practiced law for five years before taking a new path in Washington.</p><p>In 1961, Ottinger helped launch the Peace Corps, hired as one of the first staff members in charge of a globe-traveling brigade of volunteers that President John F. Kennedy envisioned. His role was to oversee South American programs for the new operation until he waged his first run for Congress in 1964.</p><p>Even his early Peace Corps work reflected interests that would animate the rest of Ottinger's life.</p><p>"Many of the programs there worked to establish solutions to severe environmental problems, aiming to protect public health, communities, and agriculture," he said in <a href="https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/eesi-at-40-eesi-founder-and-former-r… 2024 interview with the Environmental and Energy Study Institute</a>. "It remains one of the most interesting things I have ever done."</p><p>Larry Ottinger described his father as forward-looking and optimistic — always moving ahead with his plans and determined to "get things done," and never slowed by setbacks like losing his 1970 Senate run.</p><p>"His staff literally had to run after him when he was in Congress," he said.</p><p>Richard Ottinger was still immersed in environmental work through four projects when he turned 97 on Jan. 27, three days before his hospitalization.</p><p>"He enjoyed it," his son said of that continued work. "He thought it was the most important thing to do. It gave him purpose."</p><p><em>Chris McKenna covers government and politics for The Journal News and USA TODAY Network. Reach him at </em><a href="mailto:CMcKenna@usatodayco.com"><em>CMcKenna@usatodayco.com</em></a><em…; </p>