Richard S. Cordrey, longtime legislator, farmer

Former Delaware Senate President Pro Tempore and Secretary of Finance Richard S. Cordrey passed away peacefully at his Millsboro home Sunday, Aug. 21, 2022, at age 88. He served as a member of the Delaware General Assembly for 26 years, 24 of which were spent in the state Senate from 1972-96. In 2005, he was selected by Gov. Ruth Ann Minner, a former Senate colleague, to serve as her secretary of finance, an office he held for the next four years. 

Richard was born Sept. 8, 1933, the younger of two sons of John A. Cordrey and his wife Rachel Smith Cordrey. He and his older brother, John S. “Jack” Cordrey grew up in Millsboro and attended local schools, working with their father in the family business, John A. Cordrey Feed Company, which had a large feed house near the center of town.  

Richard graduated from Millsboro High School with the Class of 1951 and went on to Goldey-Beacom College in Wilmington, where he was blessed to meet a lovely young woman from Bridgetown, N.J., Mary Jane Bowen. They fell in love and married in 1953, remaining a wonderful team for the rest of their lives.

After college, Richard joined the U.S. Army and served at Fort Gordon, Ga., where Mary Jane joined him. Richard and Mary Jane went to church every Sunday at the base chapel. One of Richard’s favorite stories was about the Sunday they were late getting to church and the only unoccupied seats left were in the special pew set aside for the use of a frequent visitor to the base, then-U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a former five-star general and ardent golfer who loved coming to Fort Gordon because of its proximity to Augusta National Golf Course. President Eisenhower welcomed the young enlisted man and his bride to his pew and after the service he had a friendly conversation with them.

Upon their return to civilian life, Richard and Mary Jane settled in Millsboro, where Richard established the business that dominated his working life for the rest of his days, RSC Farms, with an office in a small building behind the feed house. He and Mary Jane were blessed by the birth of two sons, Richard Joseph and Stephen Bowen Cordrey. When the boys were older, Mary Jane took a job with the Millsboro School System, where she was employed for 21 years.

Richard was active in the community and in such organizations as St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, where he and his brother Jack both sang in the choir, and the Millsboro Lions Club.  He served as a member of the Millsboro Town Council from 1965-73.

In 1970, Richard ran as the Democratic candidate for state representative in the 41st District, which extended from Rehoboth Beach to Gumboro. He was elected and served in the House of Representatives for two years. In 1972, he challenged the Republican incumbent state senator for the area, Sen. Thomas Hickman of Bayard, and won by some 60 votes. 

Richard’s years in the Senate began with a shift to a Democratic majority after many years of Republican control. He served as Senate Majority Leader from 1974-76, and as Senate President Pro Tempore from 1976-96.  At the time of his retirement from that body in 1996, he was the longest-serving president pro tempore in the nation and the longest-serving in Delaware history.

He served under five governors during his Senate years: Russell W. Peterson, Sherman W. Tribbitt, Pierre S. du Pont IV, Michael N. Castle and Thomas R. Carper; and a sixth governor, Ruth Ann Minner, as a cabinet secretary. During much of his time in the Senate, the House of Representatives was under Republican control, and three of the six governors under whom he served were Republicans.  Richard quickly came to understand the importance of compromise in getting things done. His friend and successor in the Senate, George H. Bunting Jr., remembers that soon after he was elected to the General Assembly, Richard took him aside and told him, “If you want to be a success here, you have to learn to compromise.” That was an important part of Richard’s philosophy throughout his career.

Small-town friendships were often more important than politics in the southern Delaware of those times, and one of Richard’s closest Millsboro friends was longtime U.S. Sen. John J. Williams, a prominent Republican nationally, who retired from the Senate the same year, 1970, in which Richard was first elected to the General Assembly.  He and Sen. Williams were among a small group of friends who gathered most weekday mornings for breakfast at Millsboro’s venerable Sam’s Restaurant.  Another member of their group was Preston C. Townsend, son of onetime Delaware governor and U.S. Sen. John G. Townsend Jr.  

One of their important topics of conversation at those breakfasts was state finances, about which Williams was especially knowledgeable. This was especially true after the near collapse of Farmers’ Bank of Delaware in the mid-1970s.  At the time, the state was the majority stockholder, and most state finances were deposited in the bank. After that debacle, there was much discussion all over the state about ways to restructure state finances. The results included establishing Delaware’s Rainy Day Fund and a constitutional provision requiring the state to budget only up to 98% of anticipated revenues. Most of these important reforms were contained in the landmark Financial Center Development Act, the basics of which had been discussed at Sam’s Restaurant. 

On the day the legislation was to be finalized, Gov. du Pont flew down to Richard and Mary Jane’s home in Millsboro in the Delaware National Guard helicopter, stopping along the way to pick up Richard’s dear friend and colleague, Sen. Thurman Adams Jr., at his feed mill in Bridgeville, and landing in a grassy field behind the Cordrey home.  As they were meeting, there was a call for Sen. Adams from his mill, asking him to please find an alternate way back so the helicopter wouldn’t have to land there again; it had blown everything everywhere.

Another of Richard’s major interests in the Senate was agriculture. It came as a fitting tribute to his years of service when, in 2012, then-Gov. Jack Markell and then-Secretary of Agriculture Ed Kee announced the naming of the state’s Department of Agriculture headquarters in his honor. Richard said, “If I had any choice of any building to have my name put upon, it would be this one right here. I have had the two best jobs anyone has ever had in the world, being a legislator and being a farmer.”

Mary Jane preceded her husband in death, Jan. 5, 2016.  Richard is survived by their two sons and daughters-in-law, Rick and Valery Cordrey and Steve and Kim Cordrey; six grandchildren and their spouses, Michael and Kristen Cordrey, Ryan and Amanda Cordrey, Thomas Miller and Megan Schatzman, Casey and Blake Hershelman, Chris and Rachael Cordrey, and Chance and Paula Cordrey; and 11 great-grandchildren. His survivors also include Ina Cordrey, widow of Richard’s brother Jack Cordrey; two nephews and their families; and many dear friends and relations.

The family extends their warmest thanks to their old friends, James and Ellen Mitchell, and others for their help in caring for Richard in his later years.

A viewing will be held from 9 to 11 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 27, at Watson Funeral Home, 211 S. Washington St., Millsboro, followed by a service there at 11 a.m. Interment will follow with a police procession to St. Mark’s Episcopal Church Cemetery in Millsboro.  A luncheon will follow at St. Mark’s Church Hall.

In lieu of flowers, contributions to Cordrey Charities, 70 Creek Drive, Millsboro, DE 19966, would be appreciated. Cordrey Charities are dedicated to promoting and sharing the joys and rewards of gardening.

Send electronic condolences via watsonfh.com.