George Super, the former Greenport Democratic Committee Chair, passed away on January 18 from covid-related complications. As a gifted young baseball player, he was drafted by the New York Giants but also, unfortunately, by the US Army at the same time. After serving in Korea he came back to Hudson where he worked as a truck driver and then for nearly 35 years at Universal Match, one of the many local factories that closed over the past decades.
A dedicated life-long Democrat, his political views always reflected those experiences and the classic Party values that support the working class. As a result, his positions were not always in sync with current party beliefs. As Greenport Planning Board Chair, he was critical in achieving the Wal-Mart development on Fairview, and he supported the Holcim cement plant, which most of us opposed. But his motivations were clear—he promoted policies that would restore the economic life and dignity of those left behind over the years by corporate and government neglect. My experiences with George were limited to the last few years and his work as Committee Chair, where I was struck by his consistent decency, honesty, and those basic Democrat convictions. I also observed his courage during the time I knew him in enduring without complaint extreme physical pain from multiple leg surgeries. We would do well to use his life as a testimony to those values that we, as Democrats, are in danger of losing and that we must defend while simultaneously balancing them with sound progressive ideas. I never saw him without the company of Madeline, his tough, wise wife, for whom this loss is profound. You can read his obituary here. His family has requested donations for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Carol Peckham
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