Donald J . Mitchell Donald Jerome Mitchell ( May 8 , 1923 – September 27 , 2003 ) represented New York in the United States House of Representatives from 1973 – 1983 . Early life . Donald J . " Don " Mitchell , a native of Upstate New York ' s Mohawk Valley with ancestral family roots tracing back to the American Revolution , as well as Mohawk Indian blood on his father ' s side , was born in Ilion , New York , in 1923 . He was the oldest child of Donald G . Mitchell and Winnifred Packard Mitchell of Herkimer , New York . He attended the Herkimer Public School System , graduating from Herkimer High School in 1940 . After returning home following military service during World War II , in 1945 he married Margaretta " Gretta " Wilson LeVee , the daughter of E . Allen LeVee and Margaret Tinker LeVee , of Little Falls , New York . Married for over 57 years at the time of the Congressman ' s death in 2003 , the Mitchells had three children — Gretchen , Cynthia , and Allen . Military service . During World War II , Mitchell served as a carrier - based fighter pilot in the United States Navy from 1942 until 1945 . Following the war , he completed a bachelor ' s degree in Optometry at Hobart College in 1949 , and went on to earn a master ' s degree from Columbia University in 1950 . In the early 1950s , he founded an optometry practice in Herkimer , New York . An avid pilot in private life , Dr . Mitchell re - enlisted in the Navy in 1951 , and served as a Naval Flight Instructor in Pensacola , Florida , from 1951 – 1953 , during the Korean War . Life after the military , professional career , civic service . After his second tour of duty with the Navy , Mitchell resumed his optometry practice in Herkimer , where he was elected to the City Council ( 1954 – 1957 ) and served as Mayor ( 1957 – 1960 ) , and was active in numerous civic and charitable organizations . Among those were : the Boy Scouts of America , the American Civil Defense Association , the Central Association for the Blind , the Eastern New York Chapter of the Nature Conservancy , the Mohawk Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross , the American Cancer Society , the United Way , and the Herkimer County Historical Society . Additionally , he served as a member of the Herkimer Zoning Board of Appeals from 1963 until 1964 , when he was elected to the New York State Assembly . Political career . In 1964 , Mitchell was elected to represent Herkimer County in the New York State Assembly ( 1965 – 1972 ) and served in the Republican leadership as the Assembly Majority Whip from 1969 until 1972 . In 1972 , he was elected to the United States Congress where he represented what is now New York ' s 31st Congressional District . After being successfully re - elected to a second term by a wide margin in 1974 , he then ran unopposed to for three more terms , serving in Congress a total of 10 years from January 3 , 1973 until January 3 , 1983 . While in the U . S . Congress , Mitchell served on the House Armed Services Committee , and was elected by his colleagues and served four years in the House Republican Leadership as Regional Whip for New England and the Mid - Atlantic States . Among his other accomplishments as a Member of Congress , he was responsible for establishing Leatherstocking Country , a nine - county tourism district in Central New York state , and played a key role in establishing Fort Stanwix National Monument as a unit of the National Park System . He and a coalition of other House members also started a campaign in the early 1970s to persuade the Defense Department to award more military contracts and employ more people in the Northeast , which was losing Defense funding and contracts to the South . And in 1974 , Mitchell led another successful campaign to prevent the Air Force from cutting 1 , 500 jobs at the Rome Air Development Center at Griffiss Air Force Base in Rome , N . Y . In 1982 , at the behest of Broadway Producer Joe Papp , and with the encouragement of members of his family and others involved in a " Save the Theatres " effort to preserve historic Broadway theatres in New York City , Mitchell introduced legislation in the Congress along with 13 co - sponsors to designate a " Broadway / Times Square Theatre District National Historic Site " in Mid - Town Manhattan . Mitchell ' s bill ( 97th Congress – H . R . 6885 ) faced fierce opposition and extensive lobbying mounted against it by Mayor Ed Koch ' s administration and big - money Manhattan development interests . Although the measure was , consequently , never enacted – the overall effect of his legislative initiative and of the " Save the Theatres " effort generally , however , was to slow down the rapid destruction of the old Theater District . This allowed eventually for the preservation of at least some of the historic playhouses and helped ensure retention of some measure of the District ' s original flavor , atmosphere , charm and historic character for future generations of theatregoers and visitors to the City . And , as a result in large part to Mitchell and Papp ' s efforts , the Theater District remains one of New York City ' s primary and most popular tourist attractions and destinations . Mitchell was also a founder of , and the first Chairman of the Northeast / Midwest Coalition in the U . S . House of Representatives , and was a founding member of the Congressional Tourism Caucus . Always well liked by his colleagues on both sides of the aisle , Congressman Mitchell has been described by a Capitol Hill legislative aide as , " without doubt the nicest , most decent Member of Congress I ever knew or worked with – totally honest , of unquestionable integrity , always receptive to considering all points - of - view , with nothing beyond doing the very best possible for his Country at heart , and willing to work tirelessly for the betterment and continued welfare of his constituents in the Mohawk Valley in Upstate New York . " Life after Congress . In 1984 , Mitchell retired from public service and returned to Herkimer , New York . There he resumed his optometry practice , he and his wife Gretta dividing their time between homes in the Mohawk Valley and in Cedar Key , Florida . Following his retirement , Congressman Mitchell received a number of tributes of various sorts . Among these was the naming in his honor of the Veterans Administration hospital clinic at Griffiss Air Force Base near Rome , New York – which was formally designated by Act of Congress , signed into law by President Clinton , to be known as the " Donald J . Mitchell VA Outpatient Clinic " . The facility provides primary care and other health care services for veterans in the greater Utica - Rome - Syracuse area in Central New York State . Also , a highway bridge over West Canada Creek in the Mohawk Valley north of the Village of Herkimer was officially designated by Herkimer County as the " Donald J . Mitchell Bridge " in his honor . Former Congressman Mitchell died on September 27 , 2003 , of complications associated with his lengthy battle late in life with Parkinson ' s disease . Upon his death , the " Utica Observer - Dispatch " newspaper noted : " If anyone can be heralded for having led an exemplary life , its former U . S . Congressman Donald J . Mitchell . . . Mitchell managed to balance a vigorous commitment to community and country without ever forsaking family and friends – and he left a legacy of pride along a path that took him from the Mohawk Valley to the Nation ' s Capital and back again . " Following memorial services attended by , among many others , various former colleagues from the U . S . Congress and the New York State Assembly , his remains – escorted by both an active duty , and an American Legion veterans color guard , and borne by uniform personnel representing every branch of the U . S . Military Services – were interred with full military honors on a hillside at the Oak Hill Cemetery overlooking a tributary of the Mohawk River in his hometown of Herkimer .