Jay Rockefeller, the former West Virginia governor and U.S. senator who became the final prominent member of his family’s political dynasty, has died at 89.
Rockefeller died Thursday night at his home in Washington, Mary Stewart said. Stewart is vice president for external affairs at WETA, the public broadcasting station led by Rockefeller’s wife, Sharon, as president and CEO.
A Democrat and heir to one of America’s wealthiest families, Rockefeller devoted five decades to public service in one of the nation’s poorest states. He arrived in West Virginia in 1964 as a participant in an anti-poverty program, won election as governor 12 years later, served two terms and then represented the state in the U.S. Senate for 30 years.
“I could not imagine a more rewarding career,” Rockefeller said when he announced his retirement in 2015.
Born John D. Rockefeller IV in New York City, he was the great-grandson of Standard Oil founder John Rockefeller, who died one month before his birth. His father, John D. Rockefeller III, was a prominent philanthropist. His uncles included Winthrop Rockefeller, the Republican governor of Arkansas, and Nelson Rockefeller, the Republican governor of New York. Another uncle, David Rockefeller, led Chase Manhattan Bank.
Jay Rockefeller chose a very different political path.
At 27, just a few years after college, Rockefeller moved to the West Virginia mining town of Emmons to work with Volunteers in Service to America. He later described the experience as transformative.
“It explains every policy I pursued and every vote I have cast. It was where my beliefs were bolted down, and where my passions met my principles,” he said during an emotional farewell speech on the Senate floor on Dec. 4, 2014.
Although he initially expected to remain in the state only briefly, Rockefeller broke with his family’s Republican tradition and won a Democratic seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates in 1966. Combining financial resources with relentless campaigning in a traditionally Democratic state, he overcame doubts about his political motives and advanced from state legislator to secretary of state and then governor.
His only electoral defeat came in the 1972 governor’s race, when Republican Arch A. Moore Jr. defeated him. Moore’s daughter, Republican Shelley Moore Capito, would later win Rockefeller’s Senate seat in 2014 after his retirement.
Rockefeller stayed in West Virginia after that loss, a decision he called the most important of his career. In 1973, he became the first president of West Virginia Wesleyan College who did not hold a theological degree. His popularity at the college, along with his decision to support strip mining, helped propel him to a landslide victory over Republican Cecil Underwood in the 1976 governor’s race.
As governor, Rockefeller focused on strengthening West Virginia’s infrastructure, including its roads, sewer systems and bridges. He acknowledged that such projects were “not very sexy things, I grant you but very, very necessary in West Virginia.”
After defeating Arch Moore in a 1980 rematch, Rockefeller won a U.S. Senate seat in 1984 following the retirement of longtime Democratic Sen. Jennings Randolph. His victory came as Republican President Ronald Reagan was winning a landslide nationwide.
Rockefeller and his wife, Sharon, the daughter of former Illinois Republican Sen. Charles Percy, moved comfortably through Washington’s social circles and bought a multimillion-dollar estate for their family. He made no apologies for using his inherited $150 million fortune to finance his campaigns, spending millions of dollars from his own pocket. He won each of his five Senate terms by comfortable margins.
His wealth remained a constant topic in West Virginia politics. Rockefeller spent at least $21 million of his own money on his campaigns, including $9 million in his closely contested 1984 Senate race against Republican political newcomer and fellow multimillionaire John Raese. During his 1980 gubernatorial contest with Arch Moore Jr., one popular bumper sticker read: “Make Him Spend It All, Arch.”
For 25 years, Rockefeller served as West Virginia’s junior senator, building his own influence in the enormous shadow of Sen. Robert C. Byrd. Byrd, who died in 2010, remains the longest-serving senator in U.S. history and was celebrated for directing billions of dollars to his economically struggling state over several decades.
Rockefeller’s impact was quieter but substantial. As chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, he advocated for consumer protections, expanded broadband infrastructure and sponsored legislation that would have prevented companies from tracking their customers’ online activity. In 1997, he wrote the law that established the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which helps low-income families whose earnings are too high for Medicaid eligibility.
He also chaired the Senate committees on Veterans Affairs and Intelligence, and often clashed with President George W. Bush over foreign policy. Rockefeller later said he regretted voting in 2002 to authorize the war in Iraq.
Rockefeller did not always align with Democratic President Barack Obama’s administration, particularly on mining regulations. West Virginia was the nation’s second-largest coal producer, and Rockefeller joined several state officials in opposing the Obama-era Environmental Protection Agency’s oversight of mountaintop-removal surface mining.
Rockefeller’s college studies in Tokyo helped shape his later efforts to attract Japanese investment to West Virginia. He had known Toyota’s founding family since the 1960s and played a key role in persuading the automaker to build an engine-parts factory in a cornfield near Buffalo, West Virginia, in 1996. The $2 billion facility now employs approximately 2,200 people.