February 16, 2024
Our news department has learned that longtime former Hornell I.D.A. chairman and longtime former Democratic Chairman Sam Nasca, passed away on Wednesday night. Longtime friend, former Hornell Mayor Shawn Hogan tells us that Sam Nasca died Wednesday night in Albany, surrounded by family members. “I am certainly devastated and heartbroken by the news,” Hogan said. “We had been friends for 50 years. Sam was an advisor and a mentor. He was the Hornell City Democrat Chairman when he asked me to run for mayor in 1985. I said yes, I would run, and I went door to door with Sam, on River Street, Oak Street, Delaware Avenue, and so on.
“Sam was committed to this community. He was one of the founding members of the Hornel Industrial Development Agency. He served with distinction and honor for well over 40 years. Sam was definitely a railroader. He worked as a trainmen, he got involved in the union and went to Albany and became a well known figure there as the regional district chairman for the UTU (the United Tramsportation Union) as their lobbyist and legislative representative in Albany. Sam had a long history of service to this community and to his union. He certainly loved his family and he was very, very committed to this community and to it’s future. Sam worked on every economic project of significance in this community. He’s going to be hard to replace,” Shawn Hogan said.