Nita Lowey (D-NY), a pioneering Jewish congresswoman and the first woman to chair the powerful House Appropriations Committee, was remembered on Sunday as “a force to be reckoned with on so many issues” and “a lifelong champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Lowey, 87, died on March 15 of breast cancer at her home in the suburban New York district she represented in Congress for 32 years, from 1989 to 2021.

Lowey was a leading advocate for the U.S.-Israel relationship and Jewish community interests, holding a pivotal role on the committee responsible for setting government funding levels of foreign aid. She was a staunch opponent of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.

“She is one of the strongest champions we’ve ever seen in Congress in terms of support for Israel, in terms of foreign aid and support for Israel,” Stephanie Hausner, a former Lowey intern and campaign staffer who is now the chief operating officer of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told Jewish Insider. 

“She felt strongly in convictions in support of Israel and would hold firm and encourage others to also see Israel as a place of diversity,” Hausner said. “When she decided not to run again in 2020, I think we as a Jewish community lost a giant, and her shoes — I don’t know that they’ll ever fully be filled.”

Hausner described Lowey as part of a now-fading generation of pro-Israel Jewish leaders on Capitol Hill, comparing her to  Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), who died in 2024.

American Jewish Committee CEO Ted Deutch, who served with Lowey in Congress, called her a cherished friend and noted her role as a co-founder, with him, of the House Bipartisan Task Force to Combat Antisemitism.

“During my time in Congress and after, she was an incredible mentor, and I am so fortunate to have witnessed her at work on the House floor, at home, and around the world,” Deutch said.

Numerous other lawmakers also lauded Lowey as a friend and mentor.

Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-NV) called Lowey “a force to be reckoned with on so many issues, she was a lifelong champion of the U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) compared Lowey to “a modern-day Esther.”

Harriet Schleifer and William Daroff, the chair and CEO of the Conference of Presidents, said Lowey “was among the strongest advocates for the U.S.-Israel relationship in Congress, and her leadership, passion, and dedication will be deeply missed.”

Schleifer and Daroff highlighted Lowey’s frequent invocations of her commitment to tikkun olam and said that she “embodied the highest ideals of both the American Jewish community and the American nation.”

AIPAC said in a statement that Lowey was a “dear friend and stalwart ally of the pro-Israel community. Throughout her career in the U.S. Congress, Rep. Lowey was an always dependable and effective leader in advancing the U.S.-Israel relationship,” including fighting for resources to support Israel as chair of the Appropriations Committee.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY), a Republican who now represents part of Lowey’s former Westchester County-based district, also praised her service.

“I am deeply saddened by the loss of Congresswoman Nita Lowey,” Lawler said. “Her bipartisan spirit, commitment to our community, and dedication to the country inspired me, and my thoughts are with her family as we honor her legacy in New York’s 17th.”

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said that New York and the country “have lost a principled, passionate and powerful public servant with the passing of Congresswoman Nita Lowey” who “courageously served her constituents and stood up for New Yorkers while shattering multiple glass ceilings along the way.”

In her final years in Congress, Lowey led the push for the Middle East Partnership for Peace Act, a fund to support joint Israeli-Palestinian projects and person-to-person peacebuilding efforts. The bill, which passed before she left Congress, bears her name.

Hausner called the bill a hallmark of Lowey’s support for a two-state solution, and highlighted her efforts to bring a wide range of Jewish organizations together in support of the bill.

Rosen said that Lowey “created the MEPPA program to keep her hope for peace in the region alive.”

Lowey was the first woman to chair the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the House Democrats’ campaign arm. She was known both for her friendly attitude and her fierce dedication to her priorities, leading a Republican colleague to dub her “the perfumed ice pick.”

Lowey is remembered fondly on a personal level by those with whom she worked.

Hausner called Lowey “an amazing boss and mentor“ and said that she was “a powerhouse lawmaker… But she was also like a grandma and a friend to everyone.” She said that Lowey would keep in touch with her former staff and support them in their later endeavours. 

Hausner said that Lowey also gave out her brisket recipe — which Hausner still has. And she recalled the time that they both found themselves together on vacation in Puerto Rico and practiced water aerobics together every day, showing her a different side of the congresswoman.

Outside of Jewish community issues, Hausner remembered Lowey as a champion for women’s issues, leading a march with fellow lawmakers to hear Anita Hill testify against Clarence Thomas before the Senate Judiciary Committee; a supporter of public broadcasting; and as an advocate for food allergy labeling requirements.

Liz Leibowitz, who worked in Lowey’s office from 2017-2020 in foreign policy roles, described the New York Democrat as “just truly the kindest human and a good boss.”

Lowey, Leibowitz said, had “that fundamental belief of repairing the world. She would always talk about her mother, and how her mother would say, ‘When I see a problem, I just need to fix it.’ And that was the approach that [Lowey] took to really everything. And she felt that way about what she saw when she was overseas, and she was just so committed to trying to repair the world, whether it be women, reproductive health globally, girls’ education, development assistance, to pull people out of poverty around the world. It meant a lot to her, and it was fundamental to her understanding of her Judaism.”

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also highlighted Lowey’s work supporting survivors of the Sept. 11 attacks and natural disasters, and supporting impoverished women and girls around the world.

Lowey is survived by her husband, Steve, three children and eight grandchildren.

In November 1988, a 51-year-old upstart Democratic candidate named Nita Lowey overcame the odds to defeat two-term Republican incumbent Rep. Joseph J. DioGuardi in a nail-biter of a congressional election. Lowey’s upset, all those years ago, feels reminiscent of the current political moment, as establishment players face stiff competition from progressives.

Last August, Lowey got a taste of that dynamic when Mondaire Jones, a 33-year-old attorney, announced he would challenge Lowey in the Democratic primary. Two months later, Lowey declared that she would not seek re-election. The congresswoman has said she made her decision independent of Jones, who is now poised to succeed her. But the timing may have been significant: Rep. Eliot Engel (D-NY), who serves in a neighboring district and entered Congress in Lowey’s class, appears to have fallen to a left-leaning challenger in the June 23 primary.

Lowey, for her part, is sanguine about the recent primary election in her own district, the results of which have not yet been officially called. “Whoever wins, I wish them well,” she told Jewish Insider in a phone interview. “I just would hope that they would continue a legacy that, to me, is very important: helping people.”

As she prepares to retire at the end of her term, Lowey, 83, reflected on her decades-long run serving the northern suburbs of New York City. 

“It’s been an extraordinary opportunity for me,” said the congresswoman, who represents the 17th congressional district, which includes portions of Westchester and all of Rockland County.

That is, of course, an understatement. Throughout her 32 years in office, Lowey has established herself as a formidable presence in Washington, having ascended to the upper ranks of the House Appropriations Committee, which she now chairs along with its subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.

“She was a powerhouse,” said Howard Wolfson, a Democratic strategist who worked for Lowey in the early 1990s as her chief of staff and press secretary and in the early 2000s when she served as the first chairwoman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “I learned an enormous amount from her — about how she operated, how she built coalitions, how she was able to work with people from both sides of the aisle, how she used her charisma and her energy and enthusiasm.”

“She wanted to make a difference,” Wolfson added. “She was there to legislate.”

In her conversation with JI, Lowey rattled off a number of achievements, such as her advocacy on behalf of public television, abortion rights, food allergy labeling, gender equity in preclinical research and environmental protections for the Long Island Sound. 

Her work advocating for pro-Israel causes, she said, is a part of her legacy she views as particularly important. “The work that I’ve done regarding the Israel-United States relationship almost makes me feel as [though] I’m carrying on l’dor v’dor, the tradition,” said the Bronx-born Lowey, who is Jewish and has long felt a kinship with Israel.

“I think it’s very important to continue that relationship,” said Lowey, adding her concern that partisan politics have, more recently, interfered with bipartisan support for the Jewish state. 

Lowey recalled the time in 2015 that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who she refers to using his nickname, Bibi — appeared before Congress to deliver a controversial speech that was highly critical of former President Barack Obama’s support for the Iran nuclear deal. 

“I called Bibi on the phone and I said, ‘Your coming here without a bipartisan invitation is a mistake,’” she said. “‘I will make sure that you get another invitation, but please, you’ve got to keep Israel a bipartisan issue.’ He came anyway. He didn’t listen to me.”

The congresswoman is also worried about possible annexation of parts of the West Bank, which Netanyahu has said could happen as soon as this month. “I have many concerns about the annexation,” she said. “This expansion would put an end to a two-state solution, in my judgement.” 

Still, Lowey spoke affectionately of Netanyahu, whom she has known for decades. Earlier this year, she traveled to Israel as part of a bipartisan congressional delegation commemorating the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. 

“It was a very emotional — a very emotional time — for me,” said Lowey, who remembers chatting with the prime minister about her first trip to Israel as a member of Congress, during which they rode a helicopter together around the country. “It was just the two of us,” she remembered, “flying over and understanding what this issue was all about.”

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY) and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) appear at an event in New York in May 2014. (Gary He/ U.S. Department of Labor)

Constituents in Lowey’s district, which includes a sizable Jewish population, are more than grateful for her commitment to their needs.

“She’s always available, which is always so special,” said Elliot Forchheimer, CEO of the Westchester Jewish Council. “People appreciated being able to hear from her and being able to have a quick conversation with her, which she would take back to her office and down to Washington as needed.”

Debra Weiner, who is active in the Westchester Jewish community, said Lowey’s voice will be “sorely missed” after she steps down. “A big hole will be left both in our Westchester community here and certainly representing us in the United States Congress.”

“Many of us felt that she was very much one of us,” said Michael Miller, executive vice president and CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, recalling that Lowey would wear a Lion of Judah pin indicating her annual support for the United Jewish Appeal. 

Lowey’s decision to work on the foreign operations subcommittee, Miller added, made her their “go-to person.” Miller also noted that Lowey had helped procure federal security funding for nonprofit religious organizations as the country saw an uptick in incidents of antisemitic violence. 

“We owe her a tremendous debt of gratitude,” Miller said.

Jackie Shaw, executive director of the Interfaith Council For Action in Ossining, was equally appreciative of Lowey’s service. 

“Through Nita Lowey’s hard work and dedication to underserved communities, IFCA was able to receive funding to address critical housing needs,” Shaw said in an email. “With these funds, IFCA was able to continue its mission of providing safe, quality affordable housing. Nita’s leadership will be sorely missed.”

In a statement, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), echoed that sentiment. Lowey’s “career is marked by her fierce advocacy for working families and steadfast desire to give underrepresented communities a seat at the table,” she said, adding, “I will miss seeing her in the halls of Congress.”

Lowey looks back on her tenure in Congress with a strong sense of accomplishment, but pointed out that nothing came without a fight. 

“I was one of a small group of women when I got to Congress,” the 16-term congresswoman said. The number of female representatives who now serve in the House, Lowey told JI, gives her faith that the country will be well-served as she prepares to retire. “They come to me and want to learn from me, but I’m continuing to learn from them as I try to help them adjust to this important responsibility.”

More broadly, Lowey emphasized the work she has done since 1989 for constituents in need. “I’m very proud of all the casework we’ve done just helping people,” she told JI. “There are so many thousands of people who have benefited because of the great casework we do in my district office.”

Not that she has any plans of becoming complacent in her final six months in office. 

Rabbi Steven Kane, who works at Congregation Sons of Israel in Briarcliff Manor, said he spoke with Lowey just last week about a $100,000 grant his synagogue had received for security upgrades. Though Lowey is in her final term, Kane marveled at the fact that she had made the decision to personally inform him of the grant.

“We were very fortunate to have her,” he said.

Lowey has also been working to pass the bipartisan Middle East Partnership for Peace Act, which, she said, creates joint economic ventures between Israelis and Palestinians as well as “people-to-people” programs — all with the intention of encouraging a “strong foundation,” as Lowey put it, for a two-state solution. 

The act, she seemed to suggest, would be one of the crowning achievements of her legacy. “I want to get all these things done before I leave,” she said. “So I’m working very hard.”