Nita Lowey, a Jewish Democrat from New York who served in the US House of Representatives for 32 years, has died at 87.
Lowey’s family announced her death on Sunday, four years after she retired from Congress. She had battled breast cancer for several years, the family’s announcement said.
“A public servant in the truest sense, she was guided by the Jewish core value of ‘Tikkun Olam,’ repairing the world,” said the announcement, which said Lowey died surrounded by family at her Harrison, New York, home.
Lowey was 51 in 1988 when she was elected to Congress to represent a suburban district encompassing parts of Westchester County as well as Rockland County, with a large Jewish population. She became the first woman to head the House Appropriations Committee. She was also a staunch advocate for Israel and battled against eroding bipartisan support for the country.
When Rep. Ilhan Omar, elected in 2018 as a member of the progressive “Squad,” suggested that supporters of Israel are loyal to a foreign country, Lowey condemned her statements.
She also pleaded in vain with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in 2015 not to accept an invitation from the Republican speaker of the House that would enable him to use Congress as a stage to slam President Barack Obama’s efforts to negotiate a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions — though she opposed the deal herself.
“I said, ‘I’ll arrange private meetings for you in the House and Senate. This was not a bipartisan invitation, and I believe passionately for Israel and the US to maintain a bipartisan alliance. Don’t come within a framework that has been partisan,’” Lowey recalled in 2019. “He said, ‘I’ll think about it.’ He never got back to me.”
And Lowey also lobbied a diverse array of groups — from the pro-Israel lobby AIPAC to J Street, the liberal Israel lobby, to the Alliance for Middle East Peace — to get them to back a bill that would budget $50 million to support grassroots peace programs. When the bill became law after her retirement, with bipartisan support and a budget five times that amount, its official name was the Nita M. Lowey Middle East Partnership for Peace Act.
The American Jewish Committee said in a statement about Lowey’s death that the act, “a transformative law, continues to be central to AJC’s advocacy as we work to build trust and understanding between Israelis and Palestinians, and strive for a more peaceful and interconnected Middle East.”
The AJC’s CEO, Ted Deutch, was Lowey’s colleague in Congress. “She was an incredible mentor, and I am so fortunate to have witnessed her at work on the House floor, at home, and around the world,” Deutch said in a statement. He added, “Nita loved AJC and the Jewish people, and I hope through our collective efforts, we, too, can help honor her memory.”
Lowey's life
Lowey was born in 1937 in the Bronx, where her mother was involved in the local synagogue and other Jewish causes. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, she headed to Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, where her own Jewish identity was activated when she found that there were religious services for Christians but not for Jewish students.
“I organized Friday night services for 15 women, and although back in the Bronx I didn’t go to Friday night services, I organized Friday night services and I thought that was important,” she recalled.
Returning to New York after graduation, she married and had three children before entering politics in her 30s as an assistant to Gov. Mario Cuomo. She had risen to become assistant secretary of state in 1988 when she defeated a Republican incumbent to enter Congress. She then represented her district for more than three decades — opting to remain in Congress rather than vie for Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat in 2009 when many thought she would be a shoo-in.
Lowey announced her retirement shortly after Mondaire Jones, a young progressive, announced a primary challenge against her in 2019. “I am so glad we got to spend time together over the past few years,” Jones, who was succeeded by incumbent Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, said in a statement on Sunday. “And I am proud to know firsthand through my travels that her impact is felt not only in New York but around the world.”
Lowey is survived by her husband, who is 64 years old; the attorney, Steve Lowey; and three children and eight grandchildren.
Upon her retirement, Lowey said she felt no conflict between loving Israel and criticizing its government. She also recalled with pride taking members of the Congressional Black Caucus to Israel in the 1990s to learn about Israeli efforts to assist developing African countries. The country’s medical and science innovations, she said, “make me so proud to be a Jew, as a Jewish member of Congress having the opportunity to work for peace, work for good relationships between Arabs and Jews. It’s been a privilege.”
