Jay Rockefeller: West Virginia Legend Passes at 89

Jay Rockefeller died Thursday night at his Washington home at the age of 89. Mary Stewart, vice president for external affairs at WETA, confirmed the news. Her wife Sharon Rockefeller holds the station’s top executive role.

The Democrat represented West Virginia in the U.S. Senate for three decades before retiring in 2015. He had previously served two terms as state governor. His public service career spanned fifty years, beginning with an anti-poverty program in 1964.

Born John D. Rockefeller IV in New York City, he was the great-grandson of Standard Oil founder John Rockefeller. The patriarch died just one month before the younger Rockefeller was born. While his uncles held Republican offices, including the presidency of Chase Manhattan Bank, Jay chose a different political path.

He moved to the mining town of Emmons, West Virginia, at age 27 to join the Volunteers in Service to America program. He described that experience as defining his beliefs. A planned short stay turned into a political career when he won a seat in the state House of Delegates in 1966. He later served as secretary of state before entering the governor’s race.

Rockefeller lost the 1972 gubernatorial election to Arch A. Moore Jr. He stayed in West Virginia after the defeat, a decision he considered his most important. In 1973, he became the first layman to lead West Virginia Wesleyan College. A shift in his views on strip mining helped him defeat Republican Cecil Underwood in a 1976 landslide.

As governor, he focused on building roads, sewers, and bridges. He won reelection in 1980 and secured a U.S. Senate seat in 1984. That Senate victory came in the same year Republican President Ronald Reagan won a national landslide. Rockefeller and his wife, Sharon, daughter of former Senator Charles Percy, built a presence in Washington using his personal wealth.

He spent at least $21 million of his own money on political campaigns. Local bumper stickers in 1980 urged voters to force his opponent to spend that sum. As junior senator for 25 years, he worked in the shadow of late Senator Robert C. Byrd but carved out influence through committee leadership. He chaired the Senate Commerce Committee, where he championed broadband infrastructure and consumer rights.

In 1997, he authored the legislation that created the Children’s Health Insurance Program. The program assisted families who earned too much for Medicaid but still needed coverage. He also led the Veterans Affairs and Intelligence committees. He clashed with President George W. Bush on foreign policy and later regretted his 2002 vote authorizing the Iraq War. Despite his Democratic label, he opposed EPA oversight of mountaintop removal mining during the Obama administration. His studies in Tokyo helped attract business to the state, notably assisting Toyota in selecting a site for a $2 billion engine parts plant in Buffalo, West Virginia. The facility now employs approximately 2,200 workers.