Perry B. Duryea Jr.

Perry Belmont Duryea Jr.
Perry Belmont Duryea Jr.
114th Malcolm Wilson
Preceded by	Moses M. Weinstein
Succeeded by	Stanley Steingut
Member of the New York State Assembly
	In office; January 1, 1961 – December 31, 1978
Preceded by	Irving L. Price Jr.
Succeeded by	John L. Behan
Constituency	1st Suffolk district (1961–1965); 1st district (1966–1978)
Personal details
Born	October 18, 1921; Montauk, New York, U.S.
Died	January 11, 2004 (aged 82); Southampton, New York, U.S.
Cause of death	Car accident
Spouse	Marie Therese Duryea
Children	two
Alma mater	Colgate University

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. 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, 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 in 1942.^[1]

He attained the rank of

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

.

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.[2]

Duryea was a Republican member of the

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.^[2] After the Watergate scandal the Republicans lost their majority in the Assembly, and Duryea remains the last Republican speaker of the New York assembly.^{[citation needed]} Duryea was active in fighting against development of eastern Long Island 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). [2]

In 1978, Duryea was the Republican candidate for Governor of New York, but lost to the incumbent Hugh Carey.^[2] 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, a 15-year-old from Harlem, killed three people in the New York City Subway 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, Long Island, 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^[2]

and was buried at the Fort Hill Cemetery in Montauk.

Sources

^ "Governor Signs Legislation Designating the Perry B. Duryea Jr. State office Building in Suffolk County". New York State Department of Transportation. October 29, 2003. Retrieved January 22, 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Lueck, Thomas J. (12 January 2004). "Perry Duryea Jr., Former Assembly Speaker, Dies at 82". The New York Times. p. B6. Retrieved July 22, 2020.
^ Considine, John L. (December 14, 1965). "Minority Leader Duryea Pledges Aggressive GOP" (PDF). The Citizen–Advertiser. Auburn. United Press International. p. 2. Retrieved July 22, 2020 – via fultonhistory.com.

External links

New York State Assembly
Preceded by Irving L. Price Jr.	Member of the New York State Assembly from the Suffolk County 1st district 1961–1965	Succeeded by district abolished
Preceded by new district	Member of the New York State Assembly from the 1st district 1966–1978	Succeeded by John L. Behan
Political offices
Preceded by George L. Ingalls	Minority Leader of the New York State Assembly 1966–1968	Succeeded by Stanley Steingut
Preceded by Moses M. Weinstein Acting	Speaker of the New York State Assembly 1969–1974	Succeeded by Stanley Steingut
Preceded by Stanley Steingut	Minority Leader of the New York State Assembly 1975–1978	Succeeded by James L. Emery
Party political offices
Preceded by Malcolm Wilson 1974	Republican Nominee for Governor of New York 1978	Succeeded by Lewis Lehrman 1982

[1] "Governor Signs Legislation Designating the Perry B. Duryea Jr. State office Building in Suffolk County". New York State Department of Transportation. October 29, 2003. Retrieved January 22, 2022.

[auto-2] Lueck, Thomas J. (12 January 2004). "Perry Duryea Jr., Former Assembly Speaker, Dies at 82". The New York Times. p. B6. Retrieved July 22, 2020.

[3] Considine, John L. (December 14, 1965). "Minority Leader Duryea Pledges Aggressive GOP" (PDF). The Citizen–Advertiser. Auburn. United Press International. p. 2. Retrieved July 22, 2020 – via fultonhistory.com.

[1]

[2]

Authority control databases
International	FAST ISNI VIAF
National	United States
Other	SNAC