James L. Buckley

James L. Buckley, a conservative recruit from Connecticut who invaded the New York strongholds of Democrats and liberal Republicans in 1970 and against the odds won a United States Senate seat on the Conservative Party line, died early Friday April 18 2023 in Washington. He was 100. Senator from New York; born in New York City, March 9, 1923; received secondary education at the Millbrook School, Millbrook, N.Y.; graduated Yale University 1943 and received his law degree from the same university in 1949; enlisted in United States Navy in 1942 and was discharged with rank of lieutenant (jg.) in 1946; admitted to the Connecticut bar in 1950 and commenced practice in New Haven; joined the Catawba Corp. of New York as a vice president and director 1953-1970; elected as the candidate of the Conservative Party of New York State to the United States Senate in 1970, and served from January 3, 1971, to January 3, 1977; unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1976 and for election from Connecticut in 1980; Under Secretary for Security, Science, and Technology, United States Department of State 1981-1982; president, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Inc. 1982-1985; federal judge, United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit 1985-1996; is a resident of Sharon, Conn. The scion of an oil tycoon who left $17 million to each of his 10 children, Mr. Buckley had none of the polysyllabic pyrotechnics of his younger brother William F. Buckley Jr., the conservative author and commentator who founded National Review and hosted the PBS program “Firing Line.” James Lane Buckley was born in Manhattan on March 9, 1923, the fourth of 10 children of William and Aloise (Steiner) Buckley James attended the Millbrook School in Millbrook, N.Y., and Yale University, where he majored in English. After graduating in 1943, he joined the Navy. After WWII he enrolled at Yale Law School and, after graduating in 1949, practiced law in New Haven, Conn . In 1953, he married Ann Frances Cooley. They settled near the family estate in Sharon, in northwest Connecticut, and had five sons and a daughter. Mr. Buckley, who had been living at an assisted-living facility in Bethesda, Md., is survived by six children, Priscilla, Peter, Jay, William, David and Andrew Buckley; eight grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren. His wife died in 2011.