FORT MEYERS, Fla. (AP) — Raymond Schuler, a state transportation commissioner under three governors and founder of the most powerful business lobbying group in New York, died Friday. He was 71 and had battled cancer for eight years.
Schuler began his governmental career in the 1950s as a member of the executive staff of the Department of Public Works. He was instrumental in creating the state Department of Transportation from that agency and parts of others.
In 1972, he was named transportation commissioner by Gov. Nelson Rockefeller and served in the same job under Govs. Malcolm Wilson and Hugh Carey.
In 1977, he was named president of Associated Industries, and three years later helped merge that group with a rival organization, the Empire State Chamber of Commerce, to form the Business Council.