At long-delayed memorial, Amory Houghton remembered for his love for people

Amory Houghton Jr. felt the bottom line is how you treat other people, according to those who remember him best. He often started a conversation with two questions. 'How can I help?' 'What can I do for you?'

Colleagues, friends and family members attended a memorial of the life of Amory Houghton Jr. Saturday at the Corning Museum of Glass.

The public memorial was finally held more than two years after Houghton's death, the result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Houghton, who led Corning Glass Works (now Corning Inc.) for nearly 20 years and later served nine terms as a member of Congress, died March 4, 2020, at the age of 93.

"Amo was a lot of things to a lot of people,” said Robert Houghton, one of his sons. “He was just a very unique individual in that he was born with privilege, but instead of taking that privilege and saying, 'I have control and power,' he said, 'I have a responsibility.' It makes his responsibility greater. Because of his faith and his upbringing, he said, 'My whole focus was on people.' Everybody. So, he met and loved everybody, and they liked him.”

'You can't measure what Amo has meant to the community'

Mory Houghton, also Amo's son, said what may prove to be the most important chapter of his father's legacy was recovery efforts after Hurricane Agnes flooded the Corning area in 1972.

“He calmed people down, grieved with them and assured people that everything was going to be alright,” Mory Houghton said. “The flood destroyed dozens of city blocks, manufacturing plants (were) ruined and the very existence (of Corning Glass Works) was in question. Then with dozens and dozens of people, Amo championed the rebuilding of the Corning area, meeting the challenges with vigor, ingenuity and heart; and the results speak for themselves.”

“Amo Houghton did more for this community and for many of the people in it than any other person that I can name,” said Tom Dimitroff, a local historian who recently wrote a book about the Houghton family. “All we have to do is start with the flood of 1972, and it was Amo’s leadership that probably did more to bring this city to where it is today, recovering from the flood, than any one other factor."

Jack Benjamin, who was president of Three Rivers Development from 1973 to 2015, agreed.

“Amo was the one that got the whole Agnes Flood recovery program going and he continued on all the way through the 1990s,” Benjamin said. “It was a great experience knowing him. You can't measure what Amo has meant to the community.”

“Without Amo and Jamie and the Houghton family Corning would be a ghost town,” said former Corning City Mayor Al Lewis. “Really, he’s done so much, the family's done so much.

"He’s the highway guy. We wouldn't have Interstate Highway 86 if not for Amo.”

Houghton had 'a lasting impact' on Corning Inc. and will be 'remembered forever'

Other accomplishments include initiating Corning’s first LPGA event in 1976; supporting the expansion of the Corning Museum of Glass in 1980; helping to establish Corning Enterprises, an organization designed to drive economic development, strengthen human services, and improve local quality of life.

Amo was a PFC in the U.S. Marine Corps during the final year of WWII, before he earned a bachelor’s degree from Harvard University in 1950 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1952. That same year, he joined what was then Corning Glass Works as a junior process engineer at the Fallbrook, New York, plant. In 1954, Houghton served as a sales engineer for the electrical products division, later being promoted to manager of Electrical Components.

He was named a member of the company’s board of directors, as well as vice president of Corning Glass Works in 1957, before being appointed president in 1961. Then in 1964, he was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Corning Glass Works.

“Amo was Corning Glass Works chairman for almost 20 years, he retired at the age of 56, and then three years later he started a second, 18-year career (in the) U.S. Congress,” said Mory Houghton. “People thought he was crazy, you know.”

Amo Houghton was the only former chief executive of a Fortune 500 Company ever elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Wendell P. Weeks, current chairman, president and CEO of Corning Inc., said under Amo’s leadership, Corning Inc. formalized its unwavering commitment to the community.

“Under Amo’s leadership Corning Inc., became one of the very first companies to formally establish the commitment to diversity, ensuring that the company would always be a welcome location for the most talented people all over the world,” Weeks said. “Amo had a lasting impact on what Corning Inc. does, but perhaps more importantly, his impact was on how we do the things that we do. His lifelong service both at Corning Inc. and as a member of Congress has impacted countless employees, their families and local residents of the Southern Tier.”

Senator Tom O’Mara, R-Big Flats, said Amo was a true independent leader for the Southern Tier both in business and in politics.

“He is certainly missed but he'll be remembered forever,” O’Mara said.

“Amo epitomized what the Corning company was all about,” Dimitroff said. “In other words, it was a cooperation that was different than others. If you ask the people that worked there, they said it was more understanding of people, a better place to work.”

This article originally appeared on The Leader: Amo Houghton remembered at Corning Museum of Glass event