Peter Houston Kostmayer (born September 27, 1946) is a Democratic politician who served seven terms in the

U.S. House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

from Bucks County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Early life and career

Kostmayer was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, graduated from

West Nottingham Academy West Nottingham Academy is an independent co-ed school serves both boarding and day students in grades 9-12. It was founded in 1744 by the Presbyterian preacher Samuel Finley, who later became President of The College of New Jersey (now Princeto ...

Colora, Maryland Colora is an unincorporated community in western Cecil County, Maryland, United States, near Conowingo and Port Deposit. The ZIP code of this area is 21917, and has some historic houses and some new structures, such as some development neighbor ...

, in 1965, and received a B.A. from

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

in New York City in 1971. Kostmayer worked as a reporter from 1971 to 1972. He served as press secretary to

Pennsylvania Attorney General The Pennsylvania Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It became an elected office in 1980. The current Attorney General is Democrat Josh Shapiro. On August 15, 2016, then-Attorney General Kath ...

J. Shane Cramer from 1972 to 1973 and deputy press secretary to

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Milton Shapp Milton Jerrold Shapp (born Milton Jerrold Shapiro; June 25, 1912 – November 24, 1994) was an American businessman and politician who served as the 40th governor of Pennsylvania from 1971 to 1979 and the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania. H ...

from 1973 to 1976.

Congress

Following the retirement of U.S. Rep.

Edward Biester Edward George Biester Jr. (born January 5, 1931) is a retired Republican Party (United States), Republican politician and judge who served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, from 1967 to 1977. Biester graduate ...

in 1976, Kostmayer ran against State Representative John S. Renninger for the open seat in

Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district is located in the northeastern region of the state. It encompasses all of Wayne, Pike, and Lackawanna Counties; along with portions of Luzerne and Monroe counties. The district had been anchored i ...

. With

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

winning Pennsylvania in the 1976 election, Kostmayer won by a 1,312 vote margin. He won re-election in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

against G. Roger Bowers with 61% of the vote. He lost in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

with

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

sweeping to victory, Republican James Coyne narrowly defeated Kostmayer. Kostmayer won back the seat in a

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

rematch by 2,300 votes. Kostmayer won re-election in 1984 over David Christian by fewer than 4,000 votes. He then enjoyed victories in 1986 over David Christian again by a much larger margin and in 1988 over PA Republican State Senator Edward Howard and then again in 1990 over Bucks County Clerk of Courts, Audrey Zettick. In 1992, Kostmayer faced State Senator

James C. Greenwood James Charles Greenwood (born May 4, 1951) is an American politician in the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party. He represented Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania's Eighth Congressional District for six terms in the United States House o ...

, who had been a legislative aide to Kostmayer's first opponent, John Renninger. Greenwood defeated Kostmayer with almost 52% of the vote.

Later career

Kostmayer became the Administrator, Region III (Philadelphia) of the

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

from 1994 to 1995. Later, he served as the President of

Zero Population Growth Zero population growth, sometimes abbreviated ZPG, is a condition of demographic balance where the number of people in a specified population neither grows nor declines; that is, the number of births plus in-migrants equals the number of deaths ...

. He entered the race for

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ev ...

in 2002 against incumbent Senator

Tommy Tomlinson Robert M. Tomlinson (born December 4, 1945) is an American politician serving as a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate, who represented the 6th District from 1995 to 2022. Biography Tomlinson was previously a member of the Pennsylvania H ...

. Kostmayer was defeated, taking 47% in the general election. Kostmayer is the retired CEO of the Citizens Committee for New York City and lives in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.

Personal life

In 1982, Kostmayer married Pamela Jones Rosenberg, a businesswoman with two children from her previous marriage. They divorced in 1991.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kostmayer, Peter H. 1946 births Living people Columbia University School of General Studies alumni Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania Sustainability advocates Politicians from Bucks County, Pennsylvania Politicians from New York City West Nottingham Academy alumni Members of Congress who became lobbyists