(September 12, 1940 – November 29, 2010)
Early life and education
Born in Manhattan, New York City, Solarz attended public schools in New York City and later received a B.A. from Brandeis University in 1962 and an M.A. in public law and government from Columbia University in 1967.[1] Solarz taught political science at Brooklyn College from 1967–1968.[2] He served in the New York State Assembly from 1969 to 1975. He served as a delegate to the Democratic National Mid-term Convention in 1974.
Career in Congress
After defeating incumbent Representative Bertram L. Podell in the Democratic primary for the New York 13th, Solarz was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as a Democrat to the 94th and to the eight succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1975–January 3, 1993). On July 18, 1980, he became the first American public official to visit North Korea since the end of the Korean War, and the first to meet with Kim Il-sung.[3] In the 1980s, he chaired the Asian and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, an area of growing interest to the American people in that decade. He is remembered for his leadership on the Philippines. He left Manila just as Benigno S. Aquino was coming home to challenge President Ferdinand Marcos. Following Aquino's assassination, Solarz returned to Manila for the funeral and proceeded to push the Reagan administration to distance itself from the Marcos government. Shortly after Marcos left for exile in Hawaii, Solarz was at one of the opulent palaces and publicized Imelda's massive shoe collection. He worked closely with Aquino's widow, Corazon, who became president, and who dubbed him the "Lafayette of the Philippines."[4]The round of redistricting following the 1990 Census divided his district into six pieces, reflecting his cold relations with many state lawmakers in Albany. After conducting extensive polling, Solarz decided that rather than challenge Democratic incumbent Ted Weiss or Republican incumbent S. William Green, he would seek election to the open seat in the heavily Hispanic 12th Congressional District. Solarz entered the race damaged by the House banking scandal, having written 743 overdrafts. Solarz was defeated in the primary by Nydia Velazquez.[5] Ironically, neither Weiss or Green were re-elected, as Weiss died before the election and was replaced on the ballot by Jerrold Nadler, while Green was defeated by Democrat Carolyn Maloney. Thereafter Solarz was appointed by President Bill Clinton as chairman of the U.S. government-funded Central Asian-American Enterprise Fund to bring private sector development to central Asia and served from 1993 to 1998.[6]
In 1982 and 1986, Solarz met with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.[7]
In 1994, Solarz was a leading candidate to be nominated as the United States Ambassador to India, however Solarz was forced to withdraw from consideration after scrutiny of his efforts to obtain a visa for a Hong Kong businessman with a criminal record. Solarz's poor relations with members of the foreign service and the New York state political establishment were also identified as reasons for the failure of his nomination.[8] The post instead went to Frank G. Wisner.
Since then he had remained active with the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. He was also a member of the Intellibridge Expert Network and of the executive committee of the International Crisis Group. Solarz was also co-chairman of the American Committee for Peace in the Caucasus, along with Zbigniew Brzezinski.
Solarz died of esophageal cancer on November 29, 2010 in Washington, D.C. at the age of 70.[1]
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