Robert J. Gaffney

Robert J. Gaffney (born 1944/1945^[1]) was the sixth County Executive of Suffolk County, New York. First elected in 1991, he served through 2003. Since 2006 he has been president of Dowling College.

Born and educated in New York City, he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Fordham University School of Business in 1965 and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law in 1969. After working as a Special Agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Gaffney moved to Suffolk County in 1973. There he practiced law, concentrating in the areas of real property, litigation, corporate and commercial law.

In 1984, Gaffney was elected to the New York State Assembly, representing the Fourth Assembly District. He served as the ranking Republican member of the Real Property Tax Committee and the Committee on Corrections, as well as the Assembly Standing Committees on Codes, Higher Education, Environmental Conservation and the Judiciary. He also co-chaired the Assembly Republican Task Force on Crime Victims' Rights.

During his three terms as Suffolk County Executive, Gaffney was President of the New York State Association of Counties (NYSAC) from 1994–1995 and President of the New York State County Executives Association from 1995-1996. He served on the New York Metropolitan Transportation Coordinating Committee from 1992-2003. As an adjunct professor at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, he taught Public Policy and Administration in the Graduate School of Political Science from 2000-2003.

In 2004 he was elected a Trustee of Dowling College. He became its fourth president on October 1, 2006.^[2] He has also served on the boards or committees of Central Suffolk Hospital and the Long Island Housing Partnership. In 2005, Gaffney was appointed by Governor George Pataki to the New York State.^[3]

His biography on the Dowling College website states:

Mr. Gaffney, who was featured as a "Long Islander of the Century" by Newsday in 2000, has been a recognized leader in environmental protection and land preservation. He has received honors for his work in this area from The Nature Conservancy, the Peconic Land Trust, the Long Island Pine Barrens Society, and numerous other environmental and land use organizations. He was instrumental in the creation, organization and implementation of the Central Pine Barrens Joint Planning and Policy Commission and served as its first chairman, a position he held until his retirement from public office in 2003. Under Mr. Gaffney's leadership, hundreds of thousands of acres of environmentally sensitive land in Suffolk County have been preserved.^[2]

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