E. Virgil Conway, who served as New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority chairman and as a member of the MTA Board, died Oct. 21, 2015, in Southampton, N.Y. He was 85.
Conway began his tenure with the MTA Board as Westchester representative in the early 1990s prior to being named MTA Board Chairman by then-N.Y. Governor George E. Pataki in 1995. He served as the seventh chairman of the MTA until March 2001. Prior to the MTA, he was an attorney and banker.
Among Conway’s efforts was the spearheading the preparation and funding for the 2000-2004 MTA Capital Program. “At the time, it was the most ambitious and far-reaching capital program in MTA history,” the agency said in announcing Conway’s death. “That effort launched several extraordinary projects to expand the system and change the shape of the region’s public transit to fuel and better serve the region's economy. These megaprojects include the Second Avenue Subway, East Side Access—bringing the Long Island Rail Road directly into Grand Central Terminal—and the recently-completed 7 Train extension to Manhattan’s Far West Side.”
Another of Conway’s efforts was the rollout of the MTA’s MetroCard, which came with fare discounts and eliminated two-fare zones, “dramatically reducing the average cost of a ride,” the MTA noted. “He brought to fruition the restoration of Grand Central Terminal, which began under his predecessor, Peter E. Stangl, in the 1980s. And he was instrumental in bringing essential components of the transit system to a state of good repair, continuing the MTA’s decades-long work to rebuild from the graffiti, grime, and overall disrepair of the 1970s and ’80s.”
“Virgil was a hugely influential and effective chairman, and many of the successes and accomplishments the MTA celebrates today are the result of his hard work and his heartfelt service to the region,” said MTA Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Prendergast. “He remains a beloved member of the MTA family, and will be sorely missed.”