John LaFalce, a longtime Democratic congressman known for forging consensus across the aisle on financial issues, died April 11 at the age of 85.
LaFalce served his western New York district from 1975 until his retirement in 2003. He chose not to run for reelection when his district was combined with that of another Democrat.
He made a mark on two major pieces of financial legislation at the time: The Gramm-Leach-Bliley bill of 1999 that broke down Depression era barriers between investment banking and commercial banking. He was also instrumental several years later in steering the Sarbanes-Oxley corporate accounting bill to enactment.
