Norman McConney Jr., champion for minority students, dies at 68

In an era when the leaders of both the Assembly and Senate Democrats are black, it’s hard to remember what Norman McConney Jr. found when he arrived at the Capitol in the mid-1970s as a young black aide to Buffalo Assemblyman Arthur Eve, the most influential of what was then a small number of minority legislators. McConney, 68, died on Jan. 1 of congestive heart failure after a lifetime in the corridors of Albany power, a sage and principled operative, a tactical tribune for his people, a master of budgets and bargains. His penetrating eye saw through every Albany contrivance, even when he tactfully kept his wisdom to himself.

McConney’s highest title was executive director for the office of deputy speaker, when Eve rose to that position under Speaker Stanley Fink in 1979. He was a force behind the emergence of what was then called the Black and Puerto Rican Caucus, and once won its Man of the Year Award. He developed the People’s Budget and the New York State Budget Equity Document, annual fiscal analyses that emphasized social justice expenditures.

He made higher education his niche, drafting legislation for the Regents Professional Opportunity Scholarship program, which aids students seeking professional licenses, and the state Science & Technology Entry Program, which targeted minority high school students pursuing science careers. He was the lead negotiator for the bill that created nurse practitioners in New York.

His friend and fellow Albany wise man David Langdon said McConney was “recognized as one of the great political minds of Albany” and that governors and speakers “would seek him out when trying to resolve some of the thorny issues they were facing.” Minority students, Langdon said, “can thank Norman for many higher education programs he devised and helped bring to life.”