Peter King: A political life, from Nassau to Washington

A timeline of retiring Rep. Peter King's life and career:

April 5, 1944 — Born St. Clare's Hospital, Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan

1944-1965 — Grows up in Sunnyside, Queens

1961 — Graduates high school at Brooklyn Prep

1965 — Graduates from St. Francis College, Brooklyn

1965-68 — Law school, University of Notre Dame

Oct. 23, 1965 — Meets future wife Rosemary Wiedl on a blind date at a bomb shelter party in Mishawaka, Indiana

June-August, 1967 — Clerks at former Vice President Richard Nixon's law firm in Manhattan with Long Islander Rudy Giuliani

Dec. 30, 1967 — Marries Rosemary Wiedl

1968-1972, 1978-1981 — Practicing attorney

1968-1973 — Serves in the Army National Guard

1971 — Moves to Seaford, where he and Rosemary raise their family (son Sean, born in July 1970; daughter Erin, born in November 1973)

1972-1974 — Serves as deputy Nassau County attorney

1974-1976 — Serves as assistant chief deputy county executive

November 1977-1981 — Member of the Hempstead Town Council

1981-1992 — Serves as Nassau County comptroller

1986 — Loses state attorney general race to Robert Abrams

1992 — Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (in what was then the Third District and is now the Second)

1998 — Votes against impeaching President Bill Clinton

2005-2006, 2011-2012: Serves as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee

2013 — Helps secure $60.4 billion in emergency funding for superstorm Sandy victims

2019 — Announces his retirement from the House of Representatives 

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”