Martin Swift Auer (July 21, 1918 – May 21, 1991) was an American businessman and politician from

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 * '' ...

Life

Auer was born on July 21, 1918, in

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

to Harriet Swift Auer (1888-1948) and Onondaga County Sheriff Edwin Rugby Auer (1882-1965). He graduated from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

and from the Army Finance School of

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

. He served in the U.S. Army during World War II as a Paymaster in the Pacific Theatre, reaching the rank of captain. Afterwards he took over the family business, Auer & Company, a candy and tobacco wholesaler in Syracuse. He married Wilma Tucker (1918–1991), and they had three children, Martin Tucker (b. 1948) Michael (b. 1950) and Virginia (b. 1954). He entered politics as a Republican, and was City Auditor of Syracuse; and a member of the Board of Supervisors of Onondaga County (Syracuse, 18th Ward). He 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 ...

from 1973 to 1984, sitting in the 180th, 181st, 182nd, 183rd, 184th and

185th New York State Legislature The 185th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 5, 1983, to December 31, 1984, during the first and second years of Mario Cuomo's governorship, in Albany. Backgrou ...

s. On February 16, 1979, he and some other local Republican bosses were indicted for demanding campaign contributions from insurance agencies who wanted to do business with the county administration. Later it was also charged that the Republican bosses asked county employees to hand over part of their wages to the party. On February 19, 1980, Auer was convicted of

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

on the latter charge. On November 4, he was re-elected to the State Senate. On January 12, 1981, he pleaded guilty to having been involved in the insurance agency shake-down. As part of a plea-bargain, his crime was classified as combination in restraint of trade, which is a

misdemeanor A misdemeanor (American English, spelled misdemeanour elsewhere) is any "lesser" criminal act in some common law legal systems. Misdemeanors are generally punished less severely than more serious felonies, but theoretically more so than adm ...

and not a

felony A felony is traditionally considered a crime of high seriousness, whereas a misdemeanor is regarded as less serious. The term "felony" originated from English common law (from the French medieval word "félonie") to describe an offense that resu ...

, and thus was able to retain his Senate seat. In November 1984, he ran again for re-election, but was defeated by Democrat Nancy Larraine Hoffmann. Auer died on May 21, 1991, in Syracuse University Hospital in

, of a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

;''Martin S. Auer Dies; Ex-State Senator, 72''
in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' on May 23, 1991 and was buried at the Oakwood Cemetery there.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Auer, Martin S. 1918 births 1991 deaths Politicians from Syracuse, New York Republican Party New York (state) state senators Syracuse University alumni Duke University alumni Burials at Oakwood Cemetery (Syracuse, New York) County legislators in New York (state) New York (state) politicians convicted of crimes 20th-century American legislators Businesspeople from Syracuse, New York 20th-century American businesspeople United States Army personnel of World War II 20th-century New York (state) politicians