Warren M. Anderson

Warren Mattice Anderson (October 16, 1915 – June 1, 2007) was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was Temporary President and Majority Leader of the New York State Senate from 1973 to 1988.

Life

He was born on October 16, 1915, in Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York, the son of Floyd E. Anderson (1891–1976), later a State Senator and Supreme Court Justice, and Edna Madeline (Mattice) Anderson (born 1889).

Anderson graduated from Colgate University in 1937, and from Albany Law School where he was an associate editor of the Albany Law Review. He served in the United States Army during World War II, attaining the rank of Second Lieutenant in the Judge Advocate General's Corps.

Following the war he served as Assistant County Attorney for Broome County, and then joined the Binghamton law firm of Hinman, Howard & Kattell.

A Republican, Anderson was a member of the New York State Senate from 1953 to 1988, sitting in the 169th, 170th, 171st, 172nd, 173rd, 174th, 175th, 176th, 177th, 178th, 179th, 180th, 181st, 182nd, 183rd, 184th, 185th, 186th and 187th New York State Legislatures. He was Chairman of the Committee on Finance from 1966 to 1972. In this capacity he was the unofficial deputy to Temporary President Earl Brydges. After Brydges retired, Anderson succeeded him as Temporary President and Majority Leader. Anderson worked with Governor Hugh Carey and Assembly Speaker Stanley Steingut to put together a package to rescue New York City from bankruptcy in 1975.^[1]

Anderson served in the Senate's top post until 1988, when he re-joined the law firm of Hinman, Howard & Kattell, LLP^[2] in Binghamton, New York. In May 2006, Anderson announced his endorsement of former Assembly Minority Leader John Faso for the Republican nomination for governor.

In his role as Temporary President of the Senate, Anderson twice performed the duties of the Lieutenant Governor of New York. The first was from December 1973 to December 1974 after the resignation of Gov. Nelson Rockefeller elevated Lt. Gov. Malcolm Wilson to the governorship. The second was from February 1, 1985, to December 1986 after Lt. Gov. Alfred DelBello resigned.

In 1978, Anderson was a candidate for the Republican nomination for Governor of New York, but lost the nomination to Perry Duryea.

He died on June 1, 2007.^[3]

Interstate 88, which runs from the Southern Tier to the Capital District, was named in his honor.

References

Governors and Lieutenant Governors of New York Governors G. Clinton Jay G. Clinton Lewis Tompkins Tayler D. Clinton Yates D. Clinton Pitcher Van Buren Throop Marcy Seward Bouck Wright Young Fish Hunt Seymour Clark King Morgan Seymour Fenton Hoffman J. Adams Dix Tilden Robinson Cornell Cleveland Hill Flower Morton Black T. Roosevelt Odell Higgins Hughes White J. Alden Dix Sulzer Glynn Whitman Smith Miller Smith F. Roosevelt Lehman Poletti Dewey Harriman Rockefeller Wilson Carey M. Cuomo Pataki Spitzer Paterson A. Cuomo Lieutenant Governors Van Cortlandt S. Van Rensselaer J. Van Rensselaer Broome Tayler Clinton Tayler Swift Tayler Root Tallmadge Pitcher P. Livingston Dayan Throop Stebbins Oliver E. Livingston Tracy Bradish Dickinson Gardiner Lester Fish Patterson Church Raymond Selden Campbell Floyd-Jones Alvord Woodford Beach Robinson Dorsheimer Hoskins Hill McCarthy Jones Sheehan Saxton Woodruff Higgins Bruce Raines Chanler White Cobb Conway Glynn Wagner Schoeneck Walker Wood Lusk Lunn Lowman Corning Lehman Bray Poletti Hanley Wallace Hanley Moore Wicks Mahoney DeLuca Wilson Anderson Krupsak Cuomo DelBello Anderson Lundine McCaughey Donohue Paterson Bruno Skelos Smith Espada Ravitch Duffy Hochul Italics indicate acting officeholders

Presidents pro tempore/Majority Leaders of the New York State Senate Robertson McCarthy vacant (1882) Jacobs McCarthy Pitts Low Fassett Cantor Saxton O'Connor Ellsworth Raines Allds Cobb Wagner Wagner/Murtaugh Brown Walters Lusk Walker Knight Fearon Dunnigan Pitcher Hanley Feinberg Wicks Mahoney Zaretzki Brydges Anderson Marino Bruno Skelos Smith Espada/Skelos Leadership crisis Smith/Espada Skelos Skelos/Klein Skelos Flanagan