Perry Belmont Duryea Jr. (October 18, 1921 – January 11, 2004) was an American politician. A Republican, Duryea was a longtime 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 Ass ...

. He served as speaker of the Assembly from 1969 to 1973 and ran unsuccessfully for Governor of New York in 1978.

Life and career

Duryea was born on October 18, 1921, in Montauk,

Suffolk County, New York Suffolk County () is the easternmost county in the U.S. state of New York. It is mainly located on the eastern end of Long Island, but also includes several smaller islands. According to the 2020 United States census, the county's populat ...

, the son of Perry B. Duryea Sr. (1891–1968). Duryea Sr. ran a wholesale seafood business, and later was a state senator and State Conservation Commissioner. Duryea Jr. attended East Hampton High School and graduated from

Colgate University Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York. The college was founded in 1819 as the Baptist Education Society of the State of New York and operated under that name until 1823, when it was renamed Hamilton Theolog ...

in 1942. He attained the rank of

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

in the U.S. Navy as a pilot of the U.S. Naval Air Transport Service, and entered the family business full-time after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. In 1944 Duryea married Elizabeth Ann Weed with whom he had two children, Lynn Duryea born in 1947 and Perry B. Duryea III born in 1949. The Duryeas divorced in 1990. Perry Duryea subsequently married Marie Therese Duryea. Duryea was a Republican member of the

from 1961 to 1978. On December 13, 1965, he was elected Minority Leader to replace George L. Ingalls at the beginning of the session of 1966. Duryea served as Assembly Minority Leader until becoming Speaker of the New York State Assembly; he held that position from 1969 to 1973 and served as Minority Leader again from 1974 to 1978. After the

Watergate scandal 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 contin ...

the Republicans lost their majority in the Assembly, and Duryea remains the last Republican speaker of the New York assembly. Duryea was active in fighting against development of eastern

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United States and the 18 ...

including a successful fight in 1967 to stop plans to turn the Grumman Assembly Plant in Calverton, New York into the fourth major airport in metropolitan New York City. Duryea was a delegate to the New York State Constitutional Convention of 1967, and a member of the New York Republican State Central Committee in 1968. Duryea was indicted for alleged election law violations in 1973, but charges were dropped. He was the defendant in People v. Duryea, 76 Misc.2d 948, 351 N.Y.S.2d 978 (1974), affirmed 44 A.D.2d 663, 354 N.Y.S.2d 129 (1974), a case about the right to anonymous free speech, later cited with approval in McIntyre v Ohio Election Commission (1995). 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 CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 ...

, Duryea was the Republican candidate for

Governor of New York The governor of New York is the head of government of the U.S. state of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor h ...

, but lost to the incumbent Hugh Carey. During the campaign, he had called for juveniles to be tried as adults for certain violent crimes, a move steadfastly opposed by Carey. The situation was dramatically altered, however, when

Willie Bosket William James Bosket Jr. (born December 9, 1962) is an American convicted murderer, whose numerous crimes committed while he was still a minor led to a change in New York state law, so that juveniles as young as 13 could be tried as an adult for ...

, a 15-year-old from

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

, killed three people in the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Transit Authority, an affiliate agency of the state-run Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA). Opened on October ...

and was only sentenced to five years in a state youth facility. The outcry over such a lenient sentence led Carey to reverse course and support a law allowing juveniles as young as 13 to be tried as adults. A New York State office building in

Hauppauge Hauppauge ( ) can refer to: *Hauppauge, New York, a hamlet on Long Island in the United States * Hauppauge Computer Works, a computer component company located in Hauppauge, New York ** Hauppauge MediaMVP, a network media player by Hauppauge Comput ...

, was renamed the Perry B Duryea Jr State Office Building at the request of Suffolk County Court Judge, the Hon. Martin J Kerins. The post office in Montauk, New York was renamed the Perry B. Duryea Jr. Post Office. Duryea died on January 11, 2004, in Southampton Hospital in Southampton, New York, from injuries suffered in a car accident and was buried at the Fort Hill Cemetery in Montauk.

Sources

External links

Colgate University ObituaryM. E. Grenander Department of Special Collections & Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duryea, Perry B. Jr. 1921 births 2004 deaths Speakers of the New York State Assembly Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Colgate University alumni Road incident deaths in New York (state) People from Montauk, New York 20th-century American politicians Candidates in the 1978 United States elections East Hampton High School alumni