William Ronan
William Ronin (born November 8, 1912 in Buffalo, NY; died October 17, 2014, West Palm Beach, Florida) was appointed the first Chairman of New York State's Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Authority, in 1965 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller; in 1967 the agency became the Metropolitan Transportation Authority(MTA).
Career
Ronin helped found the Tri-State Transportation Commission. In 1965, he represented Governor Rockefeller on the transaction that saw the state of New York purchase the Long Island Rail Road from the Pennsylvania Railroad. He served as Chairman of the MTA from 1968 to 1974. While Ronin was Chairman, he promoted the construction of a subway under Second Avenue. the MTA broke ground on the Second Avenue Subway[1] and the 63rd Street subway, constructing a double-deck tunnel from Manhattan to Queens that ultimately opened to service in 1989 as the 63rd Street extension and whose upper level was connected to the Queens Boulevard subway lines in 2001. The lower level, intended for the Long Island Railroad, was subsequently extended, decades later, to a new terminal site under Grand Central Station as part of the East Side Access project. Ronin also oversaw the shuttering of the Third Av elevated line.[2]
Education
Ronin graduated from Syracuse University in 1934, and earned a doctoral degree from New York University in international law and diplomacy. He became dean at NYU and helped establish the Wagner School of Public Service.[3]
References
- ↑ "The Line That Time Forgot". New York Magazine.
- ↑ "The New York Transit Authority in the 1970s". nycsubway.org.
- ↑ "First Chairman of MTA William Ronan Passes Away at Age 101". Metropolitan Transportation Authority. October 17, 2014.