Economic development expert Steve DiMeo leaves a huge legacy for Oneida County

When Dianne DiMeo meets new people, they sometimes think they might know her husband. They ask if she’s married to Mike DiMeo, a local band director and trumpet player, she said.

They seldom know Steve, her husband of 43 years. As president of Mohawk Valley EDGE, Steve DiMeo, who died on March 6 at age 69, was one of Oneida County’s most influential people, but one who usually flew under the radar.

Thousands of people who likely never heard DiMeo’s name are working in jobs that DiMeo helped bring to this region, said Judge Anthony Brindisi, who worked with DiMeo frequently during his eight years as a state assemblyman and two years in Congress.

“It’s no secret the region went through a huge economic downturn in the 90s and early 2000s and a lot of people likely wrote off our area,” Brindisi said. “If it wasn’t for Steve, I don’t know if we would have made it out of some of those dark days during that time period. He, more than anyone, helped lead the economic turnaround for this community.”

Here are some of his accomplishments:

• DiMeo played a critical role in some of the area’s biggest economic development projects in recent decades —including the Utica Business Park, the Griffiss Business and Technology Park and the Marcy Nanocenter where Wolfspeed is located — and a smaller role in countless others.
• He also fought to save the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome from the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, or BRAC, process in both 1995 and 2005.
• He was involved in some way in Danfoss, Indium Fiber Instrument Sales, AIS, Black River Systems, Special Metals, the Wynn Hospital and the county parking garage under construction next to the hospital, just to name a few.
• Business leaders throughout the county called him about “everything from soup to nuts,” Oneida County Executive Anthony Picente Jr. said. “There’s not a company that got established or expanded that he wasn’t a part of,” he added.
• Decades ago, when most area residents had never heard of nanotechnology or semiconductors, DiMeo started to form his vision of the region’s future, one that encompassed much more than jobs and advanced technology. High-tech firms were the anchor, bringing jobs with good salaries to area residents who would be trained for those jobs in local BOCES career-and-technical education programs and in local colleges.
• His goal was to create a thriving community, said Shawna Papale, acting President of MV EDGE.  “To help this community rise above where it’s been, the struggles over the years of losing some of the (manufacturing) base and (General Electric) pulling out,” she said. “His view was we need to take that and move the community beyond that needle.” And his vision, she added, was not to leave anyone behind.
• “Steve was a testament to how one person can make a difference,” said Kevin Younis, chief operating officer and executive deputy commissioner of Empire State Development. “Nobody has success by themselves, but there are individuals without whom there would not be that success. And Steve is absolutely one of those people for the Mohawk Valley.”

To learn more about DiMeo and his leadership, read the full story here .

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Economic development expert Steve DiMeo leaves a huge legacy for Oneida County