Donald Blydenburgh dead; former Suffolk legislative leader was 62

Donald Blydenburgh, a consensus-building lawmaker who led the Suffolk County Legislature for seven years and served another 14 years as a New York State Supreme Court judge, died Thursday after a seven-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 62.

Blydenburgh, a Republican, served 11 years in the Legislature, seven as presiding officer in the late 1980s and the '90s -- a record surpassed by only the late Democrat William Lindsay. He later became a state Supreme Court justice and an attorney in private practice.

Under Blydenburgh, the legislature passed a smoking ban in Suffolk restaurants and overturned budgets with tax hikes and multimillion-dollar borrowing. Former colleagues said Blydenburgh forged coalitions with Democrats and Republicans to pass legislation.

"He was the greatest presiding officer in the history of the legislature, and other presiding officers have to be measured against him," said Paul Sabatino, an attorney from Huntington Station who was the legislature's chief counsel under Blydenburgh.

"He was instrumental in creating a robust, truly independent branch of government." Brookhaven Supervisor Edward P. Romaine, who served with Blydenburgh in the legislature, said Blydenburgh helped calm the body following years when its unruly politics led observers to call it "the wild, wild east."

"He helped write the story that we know today as Suffolk County," Romaine said.

Born and raised in Kings Park, Blydenburgh traced his family's history on Long Island to Colonial times. Blydenburgh's father, Joseph, was the first clerk of the Suffolk Legislature, and a Smithtown park bears the family's name.

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Blydenburgh received an associate's degree from Suffolk County Community College, a bachelor's degree from Long Island University's C.W. Post Campus -- now known as LIU Post -- and a law degree from Hofstra Law School.

In 1975, he married his childhood sweetheart, Mary Long, who survives him. The couple moved to Smithtown in 1975 and had three children: Donald P. Blydenburgh, 35, a lawyer from Brooklyn; Jessica Long, 33, an attorney from Smithtown; and Meghan Pruett, 32, of Arlington, Virginia, a PhD candidate at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology. Long said her father was "incredible. No matter what he had going on, he would always make time to coach our baseball and softball team."

Long said her father's most cherished award was a plaque from the Kings Park Baseball League which read: "The busiest man in Suffolk always has time for the kids."

Blydenburgh served as Smithtown town attorney and was elected to the legislature in 1986, representing the 6th District, covering Smithtown, Commack, Hauppauge, Nesconset and Lake Ronkonkoma.

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In 1989, he was elected presiding officer over Conservative Michael O'Donohoe.

Blydenburgh bucked Republican Party leadership in 1991 when he backed Robert Gaffney as the GOP nominee for county executive over Smithtown Supervisor Patrick Vecchio. Gaffney won the nomination and defeated Democratic incumbent Patrick Halpin.

Colleagues said Blydenburgh forged bipartisan relationships with Democrats, at a time when that was typically frowned upon by party leaders, often passing budgets unanimously. "They got to the point where they were passing budgets 18-0, which was unheard of," Sabatino recalled.

"He was a fair presiding officer and was able to accomplish a lot," Smithtown Republican chairman William Ellis said. "The best thing he did was he was able to work with the other legislators."Gregg Blass, a former county legislator and Suffolk social services commissioner who preceded Blydenburgh as presiding officer, said he "had a good analytical mind and a strong sense of the legislature as an institution."

Blydenburgh credited the time he spent working at the Kings Park Psychiatric Center with teaching him to be compassionate, even amid chaos. He started out working in food service when he was 18 and later worked in patient care.

"They need you to be very understanding and explain things," said Blydenburgh, who worked at the now-shuttered hospital in the 1970s, while in college. "When you worked in the psychiatric center, you had a lot of times when things were hectic."

Blydenburgh served as a Supreme Court justice from 1997 until 2010. He later opened a private law practice in Kings Park, retiring late last year when he became ill.

In addition to his wife and children, Blydenburgh is survived by five grandchildren and five siblings: Joseph Blydenburgh, John Blydenburgh, Patricia Steketee, Joanne Wohlleb and Susan Cannarsa.

Viewing is 2 to 4:30 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday at Clayton Funeral Home, 25 Meadow Rd. in Kings Park. A funeral Mass will be said at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church, 59 Church St. in Kings Park.