Written by Staff Writer
Chuck Schumer’s father, the longtime New York congressman and one-time Democratic leader, has died, Schumer said Monday.
Abe Schumer died in Washington on Saturday from complications of Parkinson’s disease. He was 98.
“My father left us only six weeks after his 99th birthday and nearly 10 years after he’d stepped down from Congress,” Schumer said in a statement. “My father was my teacher and my role model. I came of age in his shadow, right in the middle of his political career.”
Schumer had repeatedly sought to have his father, who has been at his side through his political life, removed from congressional leadership in recent years, including against Pelosi. Schumer has frequently warned that party elders who have seen their political influence wane must become more accessible to their younger colleagues.
Schumer called his father a “champion for working people” who “went to battle every day” in Washington.
“My father, Abe, was a legend in Congress and a hero of mine. No one paid more attention to what his constituents thought than him,” he said. “He spent every spare moment in his time chatting up constituents and talking about whatever they had to talk about. He wasn’t perfect, but he made a huge difference for the people of New York and for working people everywhere.”
According to the congressman’s office, Abe Schumer had been ill for some time. Schumer took leave from the Senate campaign committee in February.