Robert J. Gaffney (born February 26, 1944) was the sixth County Executive of Suffolk County,

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. First elected in 1991, he served through 2003. He was president of

Dowling College Dowling College was a private college on Long Island, New York. It was established in 1968 and had its main campus located in Oakdale, New York on the site of William K. Vanderbilt's mansion Idle Hour. Dowling also included a campus in Shirle ...

from 2006 to 2010. Born and educated in

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, he received a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in Business from

Fordham University Fordham University is a Private university, private Society of Jesus, Jesuit research university in New York City, United States. Established in 1841, it is named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the Bronx in which its origina ...

School of Business in 1965 and a J.D. from

Fordham University School of Law Fordham University School of Law is the law school of Fordham University. The school is located in Manhattan in New York City, and is one of eight ABA-approved law schools in that city. According to Fordham University School of Law's ABA- ...

in 1969. After working as a

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with the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

, Gaffney moved to Suffolk County in 1973. There he practiced law, concentrating in the areas of real property, litigation, corporate and commercial law. Gaffney was a member of the

New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature, with the New York State Senate being the upper house. There are 150 seats in the Assembly. Assembly members serve two-year terms without term limits. The Ass ...

(4th D.) from 1985 to 1991, sitting in the 186th, 187th, 188th and

189th New York State Legislature The 189th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 9, 1991, to December 31, 1992, during the ninth and tenth years of Mario Cuomo's governorship, in Albany. Backgr ...

s. He served as the ranking Republican member of the Real Property Tax Committee and the Committee on Corrections, as well as the Assembly Standing Committees on Codes, Higher Education, Environmental Conservation and the Judiciary. He also co-chaired the Assembly Republican Task Force on Crime Victims' Rights. During his three terms as Suffolk County Executive, Gaffney was President of the New York State Association of Counties from 1994 to 1995 and President of the New York State County Executives Association from 1995 to 1996. He served on the New York Metropolitan Transportation Coordinating Committee from 1992 to 2003. As an

adjunct professor An adjunct professor is a type of academic appointment in higher education who does not work at the establishment full-time. The terms of this appointment and the job security of the tenure vary in different parts of the world, but the term is gen ...

at the

State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

, he taught ''Public Policy and Administration'' in the Graduate School of Political Science from 2000 to 2003. From 2004 until his appointment at Dowling in 2006, he was a partner at the Long Island law firm of Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein, P.C.https://web.archive.org/web/20071013084617/http://dowling.edu/about/presbio.shtm Archive of Robert J. Gaffney, as President, Dowling College, retrieved December 8, 2017 In 2004, he was elected a Trustee of

. He became President of Dowling College on October 1, 2006. He has also served on the boards or committees of Central Suffolk Hospital and the Long Island Housing Partnership. In 2005, Gaffney was appointed by Governor

George Pataki George Elmer Pataki (; born June 24, 1945) is an American politician who served as the 53rd governor of New York from 1995 to 2006. He previously served in the State Legislature from 1985 to 1994, and as the mayor of Peekskill from 1981 to 1984 ...

to the New York State Commission on Healthcare Facilities in the 21st Century.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaffney, Robert J. Living people Republican Party members of the New York State Assembly Politicians from New York City Suffolk County executives Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Fordham University School of Law alumni 1944 births 20th-century members of the New York State Legislature