The late Barber Conable recognized as key contributor in national affairs by Buffalo group
Press release:
The Board of Trustees of the Association for a Buffalo Presidential Center (APBC) has unanimously voted to add Barber Conable, former Congressman and president of the World Bank, to the group of prominent Western New Yorkers we recognize as key contributors to the presidency and U.S. national affairs.
The Genesee County congressman was born in 1922 in Warsaw, NY. A veteran of World War II and a graduate of Cornell Law School, he reenlisted and fought in the Korean War. He started his law career in Buffalo.
Conable was elected as a Republican to the New York State Senate in 1962 and then to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1964. He went on to be reelected to Congress nine more times, and was voted by his colleagues the “most respected” member in Congress. Serving as the ranking minority member of the House Ways and Means Committee he was instrumental in establishing 401 (k) and 403 (b) defined-contribution retirement plans with tax-deferred contributions.
A longtime supporter of Richard Nixon, Conable broke with the president as the facts of the Watergate scandal came to light. The Congressman also collaborated with Senator Patrick Moynihan, a longtime friend and colleague, on the legislation creating Historic Preservation Tax Credits.
Conable retired from Congress in 1984, and in 1986 President Reagan appointed him president of the World Bank. His tenure as the head of that body was notable for his comprehensive reorganization of the Bank’s structure and his focus on projects targeting support for women and children, which was new for the Bank. He retired from that position in 1991, and passed away in 2003 at his winter home in Sarasota, Fla. Charlotte W. Conable, his wife of 51 years and a native of Buffalo, passed in 2013.
The Association’s main focus is on Buffalo’s two presidents, Millard Fillmore and Grover Cleveland, and on the other presidents associated with Buffalo—William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln. But we also explore through programs, collections, and exhibits those Western New Yorkers who have shaped our nation in national government, the judiciary, policymaking, and public affairs.
This circle includes Presidential candidates Belva Lockwood and Shirley Chisolm; Vice Presidential nominees Jack Kemp and William Miller; First Ladies Abigail Fillmore and Frances Folsom Cleveland; “Wild Bill” Donovan, founder of the OSS; and Supreme Court Justices Robert Jackson and John Roberts. And now Barber Conable adds a distinguished national and international career to this grouping.
For further information contact The Association for a Buffalo Presidential Center www.buffalopresidentialcenter.org
