Past and present Montgomery County officials are mourning the death of Neal Potter, former county executive and councilman, who garnered a reputation as a quiet gentleman in the political ranks.
Potter, who had recently suffered from heart and kidney ailments, died Tuesday with his family at his side. Potter had moved with his wife from their home in Chevy Chase to Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg in January 2007.
He was 93.
Potter served five four-year County Council terms before launching a last-minute campaign to win the county executive’s seat from Sidney Kramer in 1990.
During that time, Potter was sometimes called the 10th council member for his cooperation with his former colleagues.
After one term as executive, Potter returned to the council in 1994.
‘‘Boy, that’s the end of an era,” said Nancy H. Dacek, a former Montgomery County councilwoman, when told of Potter’s passing. ‘‘He was a real gentleman. He was wonderful.”
Dacek, one of the few Republicans who served on the County Council, served with Potter. ‘‘He was just a very, very decent person. ... He was quiet, but he did what he thought was right.”
County Executive Isiah Leggett (D) said Potter worked tirelessly on transportation, land use planning, taxation policy and assessment inequities.
‘‘Millions of people have felt the impact of Neal Potter’s public service around the world, but he will be particularly missed here in Montgomery County where his passion for public service made such a difference to so many,” Leggett said in a statement. Leggett served eight years with Potter on the County Council.
Potter remained active in political and community service, serving on Leggett’s executive transition team in 2006 and participating in a monthly nonpartisan political discussion group.
In February, Potter attended the memorial service for Councilwoman Marilyn J. Praisner, who died from complications after heart surgery.
Potter was born March 22, 1915, in Arlington, Va., and grew up on a dairy farm near Cabin John. His political career stretched back to his term as student government president at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School, his daughter, JoAnn Potter Kemp, said Thursday.
But Potter’s long involvement in county politics began when the government used eminent domain to take his parents’ farm on short notice. They were paid just $19,000 for the choice property, which became the Cabin John exit for the Capital Beltway.
Potter viewed the loss of the farm — and his parents’ sudden loss of their way of life — as an injustice. It marked the beginning of his work with civic activists determined to make planning and zoning more sensitive to county residents.
He ran for the state legislature in 1966 and lost but won a seat on the County Council in 1970.
In 1990, Potter was prepared to retire after five terms on the Council. But prodded by State’s Attorney Andrew L. Sonner and other supporters, he entered the county executive race and rode past Kramer, the Democratic incumbent, on a wave of slow-growth sentiment and reaction to Kramer’s perceived pro-business and development policies.
After deciding against a second term as county executive, Potter entered the at-large council race in 1994. Pundits believed his political career was finished the night of the Democratic primary, when the early returns showed him in fifth place. When all the votes were counted the next day, he had edged past Fran Brenneman into fourth place by 350 votes. Potter sailed to a win in the general election and returned to the council where he had already served 20 years.
But before he left the executive’s office, Potter gave the council authority to appoint Planning Board members, underscoring his resolve to see that residents have more notice and say on planning and zoning matters.
‘‘He believed that the council should have the authority on land use issues, and he returned that power to the council,” said Council Vice President Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg. ‘‘He maintained that position, which may not have been the case for others who may have made that transition.”
During his time in the executive’s office, Potter had his own version of economic development, said Sally Sternbach, executive director of Rockville Economic Development Inc.
‘‘Economic development wasn’t high on his agenda, but he also didn’t dismiss it. He worked it in his own way,” Sternbach said.
When Potter became executive in 1990, Sternbach worked for AT&T in Silver Spring. In 1991, Potter, a peace activist who helped found the United World Federalists (now called Citizens for Global Solutions), was criticized for shunning giant defense contractor General Dynamics when it considered Montgomery as a place to build its headquarters. The company went to Fairfax County, Va., instead.
‘‘His wasn’t the vision of a [former executive Charles W. Gilchrist] in bringing the Life Sciences Center, nor of a [former executive Douglas M.] Duncan in establishing the technology corridor, but I think he made business decisions that kept economic development alive in the county,” Sternbach said. ‘‘For his style, it was appropriate.”
For Sternbach, Potter represented ‘‘an era of stability in public politics.”
Potter often clashed with Duncan over policies, over style and over the balance of power and boundaries between the council and executive.
Potter said the county should not be run by an executive who acts like a ‘‘boss.” Duncan and Kramer complained that the council spent too much time analyzing and undoing the executive’s work.
‘‘I can’t say I agree with every decision he [Potter] ever made, but he always had the best interests of the people of Montgomery County at heart,” said Wayne Goldstein, president of the Montgomery County Civic Federation.
‘‘He never took on airs, never felt he was important because of the office he occupied. He remained accessible to the end,” Goldstein said.
During Potter’s executive tenure, the county also experienced one of its toughest fiscal times when the country faced a recession. Although some viewed Potter as a liberal, he stood up to unions and opposed pay raises.
‘‘We were in the midst of a major recession and he was the right man for the job because it was all about fiscal responsibility and doing it right,” said former Councilwoman Gail H. Ewing, who served from 1990 to 1998. ‘‘It did not come naturally to him to be the leader, but he did what was needed.”
When Potter returned to the council in 1994, he denounced the ‘‘Pay and Go” policy that county officials adopted to speed the development process.
In 1998 Potter left politics. He was proclaimed Councilmember Emeritus by the council, hailed as ‘‘a man of his times, a man for all times.”
Dacek, who served from 1990 to 2002, said Potter wasn’t afraid to work with the first two Republicans elected to the County Council in 30 years. She remembers one Independence Day when Potter walked around in a full suit shaking hands during a fireworks display.
‘‘I don’t think of monumental issues with him,” Dacek said. ‘‘I just think of him quietly going about his business and getting things done for the county. I never saw Neal angry or yelling or things like that. He was just a nice guy.”
Potter’s dedication to causes such as world peace and healthy living were legendary.
A tall, slender man, Potter demonstrated his commitment to the environment and fitness even in his 80s when he walked the stairs of the executive office building while younger workers took the elevator.
He took a speed-reading course so he could read the stacks of briefings and documents that county agencies brought him, his daughter recalled.
‘‘He felt he should be fully informed, and he was — ask him a question and you’d get a half-hour answer,” she said.
Potter’s research of issues was exhaustive. He also tried to make sure everyone else was informed and had their say. But when he staked out his own position, he rarely wavered, even if his stand was unpopular. All the while he was civil to his opponents.
‘‘What a prince of a man,” said Esther P. Gelman, a Democratic County Council member from 1974 to 1986, whose stances sometimes differed from Potter’s. ‘‘There was no finer, dedicated human being on this Earth.”
Potter was a proponent of open government, fiscal responsibility and farmland preservation. And while ‘‘everyone thought he was standoffish, he didn’t mind going into an office and saying, ‘I’m not leaving until you agree to vote for this,’” Gelman said.
And he loved to knock on doors and speak with community members.
‘‘We used to joke that if you left him outside knocking on doors, you could pick him up in Seattle, Washington,” said Gelman, who called him ‘‘the last great Boy Scout.”
‘‘He was a giant, and we’re not likely to see one like that again,” Gelman said.
Neal Potter
Born: March 22, 1915, Arlington, Va.
Died: May 27, 2008
Residence: Chevy Chase
Family: Survived by wife, Marion; daughter JoAnn; grandson; brother, Lloyd.
Education: Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School; Johns Hopkins University and University of Minnesota, B.A. and M.A. degrees in economics and political science; additional graduate work in economics at the University of Chicago.
Professional career: Economist, Office of Price Administration, 1941-46; economics professor, Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie-Mellon), 1946-1947, Washington State College, 1947-51; western field director; United World Federalists, 1952-1954; research associate, Resources for the Future, 1955-1974; councilman, Montgomery County Council, 1970-1990, 1994-1998; county executive; Montgomery County, 1990-1994.
Civic involvement: Principal organizer, Citizens Committee for Fair Taxation, 1960; president, Montgomery County Citizens Planning Association, 1965-67; editor, 1968-69; president; Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments; membership in the NAACP, founding member of the United World Federalist Association, United Nations Association, Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith, Americans for Democratic Action.
Career Highlights: While on the council, sponsored bills to establish the office of Public Advocate for Assessments and Taxation and the Montgomery County Conservation Corps; founder of the ‘‘circuit-breaker” property tax credit for low and moderate income homeowners; authored council-proposed state legislation on taxation, farmland preservation and farmland assessment; instrumental in formation of the Home Purchase Cost Investigation Committee.
Awards: Montgomery County Democratic Party Lucille Maurer Award for continuing service by a former elected official, 2005; Governor’s Citation, National Association of Counties’ Distinguished Service Award, Audubon Naturalist Society’s Legislator of the Year Award.
Memorial service
Tuesday, 1 p.m.
Chevy Chase United Methodist Church7001 Connecticut Ave.Chevy Chase
Share your memories of Neal Potter at memories@gazette.net.
