John Joseph LaFalce (born October 6, 1939) is an American politician who served as a

Congressman A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...

from the state of

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

from 1975 to 2003. He retired in 2002 after his district was merged with that of a fellow Democrat. LaFalce was first elected to the

94th United States Congress The 94th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, DC from January 3, 1975, ...

in 1974 and re-elected to each succeeding Congress through the 107th, serving his Western New York congressional district for 28 years, from 1975 to 2003. He served as Chairman of the House Small Business Committee from 1987 to 1995, and as Ranking

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

on the

House Financial Services Committee The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the committee of the United States House of Representatives that oversees t ...

from 1999 to 2003. He declined to seek re-election to the 108th Congress.

Early life and education

LaFalce was born in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, on October 6, 1939. He graduated

Canisius High School Canisius High School is a Catholic, private college-preparatory school for young men run by the USA Northeast Province of the Society of Jesus in Buffalo, New York, United States, just north of the Delaware Avenue Historic District. Founded in 1 ...

before earning a bachelor's degree from

Canisius College Canisius College is a private Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. It was founded in 1870 by Jesuits from Germany and is named after St. Peter Canisius. Canisius offers more than 100 undergraduate majors and minors, and around 34 master's ...

and J.D. degree from

Villanova University School of Law Villanova University's Charles Widger School of Law (known as Villanova University School of Law) is a law school of the Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania. Opened in 1953, the School of Law is approved by the American Bar Associati ...

Military service

From 1965 to 1967, LaFalce served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

during the

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

era, leaving

active duty Active duty, in contrast to reserve duty, is a full-time occupation as part of a military force. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Nations, the equivalent term is active service. India The Indian Armed Forces are considered to be one ...

with the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. He returned from military service to practice law in Western New York with the law firm of Jaeckle, Fleischmann & Mugel, and soon became active in public service.

Career

State politics

LaFalce was a member of the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature; the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Its members are elected to two-year terms; there are no term limits. There are 63 seats in the Senate. Partisan com ...

(53rd D.) in 1971 and 1972; and a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Assem ...

(140th D.) in 1973 and 1974.

Congress

In 1974, at the age of 35, LaFalce became the second Democrat, and the first since 1912, to win election to what was then the 36th

congressional district Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...

of New York, which was based in

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls () is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, ...

and also included much of northern Buffalo and the western suburbs of

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

. LaFalce was elected as part of the "

Watergate babies The Watergate Babies were Democrats first elected to the United States Congress in the 1974 elections, after President Richard Nixon's resignation over the Watergate scandal, on August 9, 1974. Democrats picked up 49 seats in the House and 5 ...

", the large Democratic freshman class elected in the wake of

Watergate The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...

. He was reelected 13 times, rarely facing substantive opposition. During his career in the House of Representatives, he served on both the Committee on Small Business and the Committee on Banking, Finance and Urban Affairs (now the Committee on Financial Services). In January 1987, he was elected by the Democratic Caucus as Chairman of the Committee on Small Business, thus becoming the first member of his class to chair a full, standing committee of the House. Following the change in control of Congress in 1994, he served as the committee's ranking Democrat. In February 1998, he was elected the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee and served in that capacity through 2003. LaFalce had numerous accomplishments as a legislator. For example, he is credited with initiating the

Competitiveness Policy Council The Competitiveness Policy Council was an independent federal advisory committee chartered in 1988 to advise the president and the Congress on more effective policies to promote U.S. competitiveness. The council had a unique quadrapartite membersh ...

. He crafted legislation that became the

Financial Services Modernization Act Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

of 1999 for which he and three other colleagues earned the American Financial Leadership Award from the

Financial Services Roundtable The Bank Policy Institute (BPI) is an American financial services lobbying and advocacy organization, based in Washington, D.C. The Bank Policy Institute was formed in July 2018 by the merger of two older lobbying groups, the Financial Services ...

. LaFalce also played a key leadership role in introducing and championing what ultimately became the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, signed by President Bush in July 2002. LaFalce was generally a liberal Democrat, but strongly opposed

abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pregn ...

. He currently serves on the National Advisory Board of

Democrats for Life of America Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) is a 501(c)(4) American political advocacy nonprofit organization that seeks to elect anti-abortion Democrats and to encourage the Democratic Party to oppose euthanasia, capital punishment, and abortion. DFLA ...

. He also was among a handful of Democratic members who voted against the five Iran sanction bills that passed 1997–2001. After the 2000 census, New York lost two congressional districts. One plan called for the merger of LaFalce's territory with the neighboring 27th district of Republican Jack Quinn, a longtime friend who represented the other portion of Buffalo. The final map merged his district with the

-based 28th District of fellow Democrat

Louise Slaughter Dorothy Louise Slaughter (née McIntosh, August 14, 1929 – March 16, 2018) was an American politician elected to 16 terms as a United States Representative from New York, serving from 1987 until her death in 2018. She served as the Dean of the ...

. The new district retained Slaughter's district number, but geographically was more LaFalce's district; indeed, only a narrow band of territory from Buffalo to Rochester connected the two areas. Nonetheless, LaFalce did not seek reelection in 2002.

Later career

LaFalce served on the Board of Directors of State Bancorp, Inc., then parent company o
State Bank of Long Island
from 2007 to 2012. LaFalce was Banking Board Member at the

New York State Banking Department The New York State Banking Department was created by the New York Legislature on April 15, 1851, with a chief officer to be known as the Superintendent. The New York State Banking Department was the oldest bank regulatory agency in the United States ...

from 2008 to 2011. He served as the Chairman and Director of Erie County Industrial Development Agency from April 1, 2012 to May 2013 and is a member of the advisory board to the Canadian American Business Council.

Personal life

He is married to the former Patricia Fisher and they have one son, Martin, who is a graduate of

Georgetown University Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

and currently works as a public interest lawyer in New York City.

Honors

LaFalce received honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from

(1991), St. John's University (1989), and

Niagara University Niagara University (NU) is a private Catholic university in the Vincentian tradition in Lewiston in Niagara County, New York. It is run by the Congregation of the Mission and has 3,300 undergraduate students in 50 academic programs. Appro ...

(1979), as well as an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from

(1990).

References

External links

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:LaFalce, John J. 1939 births Living people Democratic Party New York (state) state senators Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly United States Army officers Villanova University School of Law alumni Canisius College alumni Politicians from Buffalo, New York American politicians of Italian descent Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) 21st-century American politicians