ROCHESTER, NY (WXXI) - A well-known figure in both politics and business in the Southern Tier for many years has died.
Amo Houghton, the former Congressman who also had led Corning Incorporated for a number of years, has died at the age of 93.
Houghton was Chairman and CEO of Corning, the company founded by his great-great grandfather, from 1964 to 1983.
He then served in Congress as a Republican from 1987 until he retired in 2005. Houghton was known as a moderate Republican, and on Thursday, Republican Congressman Tom Reed released a statement saying that, “Washington still has much to learn from his legacy. A legacy where our country comes first and our political party a distant second.” Reed said that the nation “has lost a true hero, and our hometown of Corning has lost a great ambassador.”
On the corporate side, Corning Inc. put out a statement Thursday saying that Houghton helped facilitate many of Corning’s inventions such as CorningWare and optical fiber. Current CEO Wendell Weeks he was inspired by Houghton’s belief in the power of technology to improve lives.