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February 17, 2026
From EESI's President, Daniel Bresette
EESI recently lost our co-founder, board chair emeritus, and friend, Richard L. “Dick” Ottinger.
Dick celebrated his 97th birthday in January. He was still very much engaged on our board of directors as well as in other pursuits to advance climate solutions. He had limitless energy and never stopped being a believer in positive change.
Dick served in the U.S. House of Representatives for a total of 16 years: six years starting in the late ‘60s, followed by another 10 in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. He was driven by the effects of pollution on his constituents in upstate New York and became a champion of the important environmental and energy legislation that was enacted up until the Reagan Administration. Most notably, at least for us, he co-founded the Environmental and Energy Study Conference, which eventually evolved into EESI. He was very proud of EESI, which he considered among his greatest accomplishments.
Dick Ottinger regales the crowd at EESI's 40th anniversary reception at the Library of Congress in September 2024.
Since his passing on February 16, a lot of people who worked with Dick going back to his start in politics have reached out to share their memories.
While Dick was a sharp mind and keen strategist, it seems that he was an even better motivator. Maybe even an instigator (in a nice way). He had a strong will and a clear vision for what he wanted to accomplish. Those qualities set him apart and influenced many people to follow him in Congress, the New York and D.C. policy communities, academia, and, of course, EESI. I was very privileged to have the opportunity to work with him during my time at EESI.
Dick started his career in a different era when there was more consensus about environmental and energy policies. But he remained influential because he was a leader. That was the constant, and we need as much of that today as we did back then.
This issue of EESI Impact is dedicated to Dick and his enduring belief in the power of people to make the world a better place.
EESI covers a wide range of topics from energy efficiency to fossil fuels to public health. EESI publishes comprehensive overviews of these subjects—topic pages—that describe challenges and present some promising solutions.
These topic pages are among our most popular resources, accounting for 2 of the top 10 most visited webpages at eesi.org. We recently made updates to three of our topic pages: climate diplomacy, hydrogen and fuel cells, and transportation. Stay tuned for the next round of updates about electrification, industry and manufacturing, and rural development.
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