William R. Cotter (politician)
American politician (1926-1981)
William Ross Cotter (July 18, 1926 – September 8, 1981) was an American politician from Connecticut. A Democrat, he served in the United States House of Representatives for Connecticut's 1st congressional district from 1971 to 1981.
Early life and education
He was born in Hartford, Connecticut and graduated from Trinity College in 1949.
Career
In 1953, he was elected to the city's court of common council and from 1955 to 1957 served as an aide to Governor Abraham Ribicoff.
He then served as Connecticut's deputy insurance commissioner from 1957 to 1964 and as insurance commissioner from 1964 through 1970.
He was elected as a Democrat to the Ninety-second and to the five succeeding Congresses and served from January 3, 1971, until his death from pancreatic cancer at his sister's home in East Lyme, Connecticut, on September 8, 1981, aged 55.
Legacy
In 1982, the William R. Cotter Federal Building at Hartford was named in his honor.
See also
List of members of the United States Congress who died in office (1950–1999)
References
United States Congress. "William R. Cotter (id: C000799)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
“William R. Cotter (politician)” enters the record as american politician (1926-1981). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what William, Cotter and politician can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q182087. The first chronological checks are 1926, 1981, 1971 and 1949.
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This entry incorporates text from “William R. Cotter (politician)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.