Harold Withers, Suffolk Republican Party politician and leader, dies at 80

In his 35-year political career, Harold Withers knocked on residents’ doors to hear gripes, challenged the county ethics code and oversaw the Suffolk Republican Party after it lost its domination in the county.

But he was more than a politician; he had been a professor, a consumer affairs commissioner, a “bon vivant” and a Mensa member who delved deep and had fun in all he took on, said those who knew Withers, many of whom called him Harry. He spent many nights on fantasy baseball by creating grid charts of possibilities. Among his vast collection of books, he was such a devotee of Arthur Conan Doyle and Sherlock Holmes that he took a quiz to get into a special club of super fans. He combined his love of golfing and politics with his desire to visit Southold's Fishers Island by starting GOP golfing fundraisers here.

“He was highly intellectual,” said friend Peter Fox Cohalan, a former Suffolk County executive and retired state judge. “He loved every day of his life and loved to learn something new.”

The West Babylon resident, who rose from Babylon Town councilman to several county posts, died on July 25 of heart problems that started four years ago. He was 80.

Withers had a gentlemanly demeanor though he wasn’t opposed to a fight, his friends said. In 1978, he lost his run to popular incumbent Tom Downey for his congressional seat. The following year, Withers worked behind the scenes to help Cohalan unseat then-County Executive John Klein in the primary. He challenged Suffolk County’s ethics law over its “two hats” ban in 1990 because he wanted to remain the head of Babylon Republicans and the Board of Elections commissioner but eventually chose to be “practical” by dropping the no-pay party post.

“There’s a couple tough characters in the business, and he wasn’t that kind of guy,” Tony Pancella, head of Suffolk OTB, said of his mentor. “He was the raconteur. He seemed to enjoy his role in politics more than most people seemed to enjoy it. I think he was proud of how diversified a career he had. He wasn’t just filling the spot in the place where he worked. He made sure he was eminently qualified.”

Born in Brooklyn, Withers grew up fascinated by politics, history and leaders such as Winston Churchill and Dwight D. Eisenhower, said his wife, Christina Withers, of West Babylon.

Believing government could make a difference, he studied political science and history for his bachelor’s at Hofstra University and later focused on U.S. government for his master’s from Long Island University.

Withers was a commercial accounts manager for a bank in 1973 when he won his race for Babylon Town council, saying he had “knocked on more doors than the Fuller brush man.”

The new councilman knocked again in his Sunday walking tours. With his typical humor, he introduced himself with a “national disclaimer” because residents wanted fixes to high gasoline prices and other national issues outside his control, he told Newsday: “But at least they know that one level of government is responding, and I think it helps.”

During his decade on the council, he got a PhD from Fordham University after writing his dissertation on housing policies. He became Cohalan’s consumer affairs commissioner from 1984 until 1988, then worked as the Republican commissioner for the Suffolk Board of Elections until 1992, when he started a 10-year stint as deputy director in the county planning department.

He also chaired the Suffolk GOP from 2005 to 2009, a time when it was trying to recover from scandals and the loss of long-held seats to Democrats.

“He was a calming influence,” said political strategist Michael Dawidziak. “He was known as a very fair-minded chairman, kept all the town chairmen involved and didn’t alienate anybody.”

Withers was a bachelor until 2017, telling his future wife, whom he met at a political gathering, that he had been too busy to marry. The couple traveled and pursued culinary adventures around Long Island, searching all the French restaurants last year for the perfect beef bourguignon and coq au vin.

“Christina, don’t wish your life away,” his wife recalled him saying several times, or “it’s not that big of a problem. Live one day at a time.”

Whenever they went, Christina Withers said, her husband could engage strangers and remember details such as their backgrounds. At one restaurant, she recounted, he and a diner at the next table spoke for 45 minutes about their visits to the same London pub, shown in a nearby painting. At Stony Brook University, where he taught political science and public administration for 20 years, he loved eating in the student cafeteria so he could talk to and learn the views of younger generations, his wife said.

“He had this amazing ability to connect to anybody,” she said.

In addition to his wife, Harold Withers is survived by his brothers Thomas and Kenneth, both of Babylon Village.

He was buried at St. Charles Cemetery in East Farmingdale.